Ever wanted to run your own iconic photo-journalism magazine? Soon, web users will get to print their own, personalized edition of Life, as Getty Images (NYSE: GYI) and Time Inc. continue trying to monetize the mag they revived as Life.com in March.
This Q4 or next Q1, Getty VP and Life.com CFO Catherine Gluckstein tells paidContent.org, Life.com will partner with HP’s MagCloud to offer users a personalised “timeline”. They will get to print their own edition of Life magazine comprising a selection of catalogue images from any given date, as well as their own uploads.” It’s a play for the gift market, where newspaper publishers already offer historical editions for readers’ birthdays, and may come in time for Christmas.
As the re-awakened debate over pay-for-content rumbles on, Gluckstein says Life.com Getty tried it with a set of pictures showing Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, but it didn’t work out so well. Whilst Life.com carries some ads, it’s more about e-commerce. Visitors can already order Life photos on mugs, mousemats, books, t-shirts and in frames.
Gluckstein says the site, a JV between Getty and Time Inc, clocked 10 million page views a day after launch and is now at reached 100 million per month for a time, plus nearly 700,000 Twitter followers. “Social media is a massive traffic driver. Celebrity news is the most popular channel on the site.” But, while this new-look Life.com has affiliate relationships with stablemates Time.com and CNN.com, there are still no third-party deals.