USA Today launches new digital editions with Tecnavia

Posted by Nestor Bailly on October 9, 2009 at 10:30 AM

USA Today announced in a recent press release the launch of two new electronic edition initiatives in partnership with Tecnavia Press, focused on the local distribution and secondary education markets.

The e-Edition products will be offered as part of the Tecnavia's NewsMemory service, presenting an exact digital replica of the print version of USA Today. The online version includes features such as audio-read articles, advanced searches, downloadable articles that can be printed out and shared, text enlargement, archives, video, live web links and story translation. The e-Edition also feature a Saturday-Sunday edition called USA Today Extra, available only to digital subscribers.

Part of the targeting of local markets is the bundling of the service with local newspapers, where subscribers would recieve their region paper and USA Today as digital editions. This is in line with recent industry speculation that bundling and alliances in the print industry are the way to save the business.

The E-edition has also been slated for secondary education use, with students and teachers receiving licenses for access to the digital editions of USA Today. It is intended to aid teachers, who can now project the digital editions on screens or whiteboards, to keep their students up to date with current events and to provide students with an information resource for their homework and research.

Although this 'get them while they're young' approach to attracting subscribers is not totally new, the digital approach is certainly something that has been gaining momentum as publishers go online in one form or another.

Source : USA Today press release