Posted: 05 December 2014 at 8:57am | IP Logged | 4
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Setting aside problems of cost, distribution, missed schedules, etc, the Number One thing that has served to slit the throat of comics is that they no longer offer something that cannot be found elsewhere. ---- What about the rise of digital distribution? Putting aside the nostalgic feelings of traditional readers to the digital format, certainly kids are unlikely to be averse to reading on their digital tablet. Seems kids are more likely to encounter comics on a tablet or computer than a newsstand, even if there still was a bustling newsstand market. It is hard to tell how big the digital marketplace is right now, but comixology, before selling to Amazon, was reporting 100 million comic downloads a year (2012-2013). http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130925/NEWS/130929937# While there are only a few thousand comic stores, over half of U.S. households with kids aged 2-12 have tablets. https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/ki ds-tablet-play-and-household-ownership-increases-reports-npd /. It seems there is a viable potential marketplace that gives publishers access to new comic readers. If kids aren't buying comics, at this point, it seems more like a content problem--publishers aren't designing (or marketing) age-appropriate material to those readers or they aren't appropriately designing the content for the digital format.
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