Microsoft’s Surface Announcement, Nielsen’s Tablet Data Tracker, Consumers’ Stance on Ads in Apps, Record Profits at The Economist, and the Latest Pinterest News

Welcome to TFP’s weekly roundup of interesting and noteworthy stories from the publishing world. This week we’re discussing Microsoft’s new Surface device, Nielsen’s tablet-data-tracking initiative, users’ reluctance to pay more for ad-free apps, and more.

  • With its release still months away, it’s unclear how Microsoft’s Surface device, announced this week, will impact the tablet market. Mashable took a look at some of the unanswered questions surrounding the product, including what it will mean for the iPad and Android-based tablets.
  • Nielsen CFO Brian West announced that the company has developed a measurement system to track tablet data that is currently being tested by large media companies. He notes that the biggest challenge in developing such a system isn’t technical—it’s getting key stakeholders to agree on how it should work.
  • An Online Publishers Association study has found that 54% of tablet users prefer free, ad-supported apps over paid ones, and that only 19% of users said they’d rather pay more for an app that promised no ads. Though this might seem like bad news for publishers embracing a paid-app model, OPA President Pam Horan points out that ads are still the biggest source of revenue for most publishers.
  • The Economist Group is reporting record profits, driven largely by the success of its digital products, including The Economist. Digital circulation more than doubled, digital advertising revenue rose by 25%, and circulation revenue for print and digital combined increased by 6% in the past year.
  • Overwhelmed by the mass of articles, statistics, and trends surrounding social pinboard Pinterest? We’ve got you covered with our Pinterest Roundup for June. We’ve compile all of the past month’s relevant Pinterest articles in one place, so you can find the important information quickly.


This Week in Publishing appears every Friday on the TFP blog. Every week we compile interesting and noteworthy stories from the publishing world and put together a wrap-up to help our readers stay up-to-date. Think we missed something great? Leave a comment below and let us know.

Posted by: tfpadmin

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