“This is definitely a growth opportunity for our industry,” says CEO Trish Connolly. “Three-quarters of all magazines, about 17,000, are trade publications. Since it’s at work that most people read digital versions, we’re working this market more than consumer magazines.” Connolly says that many employers now cancel subscriptions to trade magazines that offer online editions. (Disclosure: Progress is an APC client.) 

 

In business since 2003, APC’s software turns print editions into high-resolution page turners on the web. Click the table of contents to go directly to an article. Fall in love with a full-page ad, then hit it to check out the advertiser’s online store. See a page you want to share? You can post it on almost any social media site you can think of: Facebook, Twitter, Digg. And while you’re doing this, APC collects and delivers statistics to publishers about readers. “Every year the U.S. industry spends over $16 billion to print and distribute magazines,” says Connolly. “Digital editions can reduce that cost by 90% for every issue, plus they can boost the number of subscribers and attract entirely new advertisers.” 

 

In October the province chose APC as one of New Brunswick’s most innovative businesss. Like every company APC has competition, including a number of self-service options that allow trade magazines to put up a scrolling PDF or flip book. What APC offers is more robust and critical: reams of data, especially in terms of circulation numbers, which are audited by magazine industry watchdogs. “Advertisers want to know who your readers are and whether they are their target audience,” says Connolly, “and that the number of issues you say are being delivered is accurate.”