Why subscribers prefer the iPad to print

Walter Hussman Jr., the publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, third-generation newspaperman and winner of this year’s prestigious Local Media Association’s innovation award, is one of our hands-down favorite thought-leaders in the local newspaper industry. 

In February 2020, during one of the last local media conferences of the year, Hussman talked about lessons learned from converting 28,000 subscribers from print to digital by giving away iPads. One of the biggest takeaways is that even those who didn’t really want to make the move fell in love with the experience. 

Here’s why according to Hussman’s presentation: 

1. You can use two fingers on a story to expand the type. “They can take their reading glasses off. That’s why they love it.” 

2. Just tap on the headline and the audio version will read the story to you. This is enabled for every single article. “Sometimes you can’t focus to read. You are in a car, or washing the dishes.”

3. Photos and graphics are so much better. “There is no way we can get that kind of reproduction on paper.” 

4. Every image is in color. “I could do that in print too, for about $30 million.” 

5. The iPad allows for multiple photos. “It’s a better way to tell the story. You can launch a video.” For example, he added, on the iPad, they could include video footage of a massive refinery fire in Corpus Cristy, and it made for a better story. 

6. It is Portable. “Portability is just as good as print. Plus, you can receive the paper anywhere, even here [in Fort Worth, where the conference was]. Just download it from the app.” 

7. You can click on headlines to send by email or social media. “You used to have to take scissors and cut it out to share it.”

8. Store multiple copies of the newspaper. “With press reader (e-edition platform) you can store 60 issues. We did a survey and 40% of subscribers said they went back and looked at prior issues. When someone asks ‘Did you see that article the other day?’ now you can look.” 

9. Delivered super early. “The iPad edition is available at 4 a.m.”

10. Delivered in your home. “You never go out in the ice and rain again. 

11. We give access to all of our archives. “It is included in the subscription.”