Adobe Technology Powering Massive Growth in Digital Publishing

Data from Nearly 1,500 Tablet Publications and 600 Publishers Shows Latest Trends in Tablet Readership

BARCELONA, Spain — Feb. 27, 2012 — At Mobile World Congress, Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that more than 16 million digital publications were powered by Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite across tablets over the last year. The company also released key insights about digital magazine and newspaper application usage, based on anonymous data aggregated from nearly 600 publishers worldwide who have created around 1,500 tablet publications using Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. In addition, Adobe announced new innovations that add more enterprise-class functionality and extensibility to the Digital Publishing Suite, helping organizations drive digital revenue and brand engagement through digital publications. Key enhancements include new in-app merchandising, provisioning of targeted content based on user role, and accelerated app creation.

The anonymous, aggregate data is derived from publications delivered using Adobe Digital Publishing Suite and shows shifts in reading patterns, willingness to pay for tablet applications, accelerated purchase funnel and advertising engagement. Tablets are driving new revenue for publishers as consumers pay for digital media content. Business publishers are also using tablet applications to drive awareness of their brands as well as the purchase of goods and services. Specific data points include:

• Sixty-eight percent of readers worldwide currently pay for digital magazines and newspapers built with the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. This is made up of single issue purchases (15 percent), subscriptions (26 percent) and bundles of print and digital issues (27 percent).
• Readers are highly engaged with both editorial and advertising content. Every fifth page view in a Digital Publishing Suite magazine app is an advertisement. Interactivity, which includes Web views, videos, slide shows, audio clips, image sequences, hyperlinks and other overlays can also have a profound impact on a reader’s digital content consumptionand engagement, with readers interacting with nearly half (48 percent) of all interactive features in Digital Publishing Suite apps. Out of the variety of interactive overlays included in applications, Web views and videos are the two types most frequently accessed by readers.
• Over half (56 percent) of readers spend between 25 minutes to 2.5 hours a month reading their digital titles. Time spent consuming content has increased 70 percent over the last six months, which can be attributed to more sophisticated and engaging content as well as the continued adoption of tablets. Consumers tend to open a Digital Publishing Suite application up to five times per month on average, and nine percent of readers spend more than five hours per month reading digital titles, which suggests that they are frequently engaging on a tablet with the brands they love.

“We saw 16 million digital publications downloaded over the last 12 months, with no signs of fatigue,” said Zeke Koch, senior director of product management, Digital Publishing, Adobe. “As digital issues grow significantly, Adobe will continue to fuel this evolution by providing innovative features that allow publishers and corporations worldwide to drive digital revenue, accelerated readership and purchase of content.”

Publishers like Rodale Inc. and Active Interest Media and companies like Sotheby’s have recently published magazine, merchandising and customer loyalty applications. Similarly, enterprises now have the opportunity to add digital content into their mobile marketing mix by creating a broad range of digital publications using Digital Publishing Suite, including sales and marketing collateral, corporate communications, as well as brand loyalty, customer acquisition and customer retention materials.

“Adobe Digital Publishing Suite has allowed us to amaze and satisfy our readers with technological innovation that they crave and expect,” said Anthony Cerretani, deputy editor and digital director, Backpacker Magazine. “We've been able to integrate interactive maps, adventure videos from all over the world, and touch-point-powered content that inspires and enables our readers to experience outdoor adventure in incredibly dynamic ways. They’re even contributing multimedia to our editions on a regular basis. With the flexibility of Adobe’s tools, we’re finding new ways to optimize the experience every month.”

“As we focus on reaching our increasingly global client base, Adobe Digital Publishing Suite provides an elegant platform and enjoyable user experience,” says Amy Todd Middleton, worldwide director of marketing, Sotheby’s. “Our Sotheby’s catalogue app combines the visual aesthetic of our print catalogues in a new convenient digital format. Analytics show that people are spending more time browsing our content offline in a more interactive environment. With zoom, original videos, and 360 degree photography, it is a great alternative to being in the room with a work of art.”

The Adobe Digital Publishing Suite is the market leader in the delivery of digital publications and includes robust functionality that enables traditional media and business publishers to quickly create content that drives greater digital revenue. Innovative features include:

• Restricted Distribution – Publishers can provision specific content to a variety of customer, reader or member groups within one branded application.
• Custom Notifications – Customers can leverage in-app notifications to cross promote and market availability of publications and other content. Already embraced by select Condé Nast publications, publishers and brand organizations can use custom notifications as in-app marketing to drive demand for magazine issues.
• HTML5 Support – Publishers such as The New Yorker and National Geographic are using HTML5 within their digital publications for in-app custom store fronts, inline content, and complete articles. Similarly, advertisers are including HTML5 within interactive advertisements to drive consumer engagement.
• Other enterprise-class features include Direct Entitlement (publishers can provide digital content to existing subscribers in one click), Analytics (Digital Publishing provides both Base Analytics as well as the ability to integrate with an existing SiteCatalyst® account) and Custom Content Viewer (publishers can create a Content Viewer for multiple devices that that supports full-screen viewing of content).

About Adobe Digital Publishing Suite
Digital Publishing Suite is a set of turnkey hosted services and viewer technology that tightly integrates with Adobe Creative Suite® 5.5 products. Using Digital Publishing Suite in combination with Adobe InDesign® CS5.5, allows traditional media publishers, corporate organizations, ad agencies as well as individual freelance designers and small design firms to publish, distribute, monetize and optimize a new class of innovative digital magazines, newspapers, ads and corporate publications on leading tablets including the Apple iPad, Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble Nook, Samsung Galaxy and other Android™ tablets. The Digital Publishing Suite includes Enterprise, Professional and Single Editions.

Pricing and Availability
To access product information including features and pricing, visit www.adobe.com/products/digitalpublishingsuite. A list of partners in the Digital Publishing Suite worldwide reseller network is available at www.adobe.com/products/digital-publishing-suite-family/buying-guide-resellers.

For a list of customer apps, please visit the Digital Publishing Suite gallery at blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishinggallery/. Please visit the Adobe Digital Publishing Blog at blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/ for additional information.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

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