Magazine publishers' use of digital watermarks rises, aiming to engage mobile device users with 'shoppable ads' accessed through mobile app; in 2013, downloads of Digimarc Discover mobile app increased 300%, with food, lifestyle content most popular

Aimee Bellah

Aimee Bellah

BEAVERTON, Oregon , April 22, 2014 (press release) – Consumers Scanning Magazine Editorial and Advertising to Get Recipes, Enter Sweepstakes, Buy Now and More

U.S. magazine titles are increasing their use of digital watermarks to drive mobile engagement with consumers, according to a new report from Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC). The second annual Digital Watermarks in Magazines: Traction Report highlights continued growth in the number of magazines using Digimarc® Discover to provide consumers who scan Digimarc-enabled editorial and advertising content with additional information and offers. This growing traction in magazines coincides with an increase in brands and retailers embedding Digimarc® IDs into circulars, catalogs, print/radio/television ads, retail signage, in-store audio and product packaging.

"The number of unique Digimarc IDs in magazines grew by more than 200 percent in 2013," said Ed Knudson, executive vice president, sales and marketing at Digimarc. "The surge in demand reflects the desire of brands and retailers to drive consumer engagement at every touch point throughout the shopper's journey. Our versatile technology provides the best and easiest way to reach customers with engaging digital experiences when they're at home, in the store or on the go."

A Digimarc ID is a unique signal (or pattern) that is added into print, audio, video or packaging to trigger branded experiences on customers' mobile devices. These digital identities can't be seen or heard by people but mobile devices and POS image scanners can detect them. It is a single mobile technology that enables brands and retailers to more deeply engage with customers throughout the entire, oftentimes varied, path to purchase.

Some key takeaways from the report include:

  • Fifty-five magazine titles used Digimarc Discover in 332 issues in 2013.
  • Downloads of the Digimarc Discover mobile app increased nearly 300 percent.
  • Estimated downloads of third-party Digimarc-enabled apps was more than 3 million.
  • Magazine titles using Digimarc Discover included ALL YOU, Coastal Living, Cooking Light, Cosmopolitan, Costco Connection, ELLE DÉCOR, Health, HGTV Magazine, House Beautiful, Lucky, Martha Stewart Weddings, Parents, Real Simple, Redbook, Saturday Evening Post, Seventeen, The New Yorker, Veranda and Woman's Day.
  • Food & Nutrition, Lifestyle and Regional Interest had 77 percent of all reader engagement scans for 2013.
  • In 2013, Digimarc technology also paved the way for House Beautiful to launch "shoppable ads," in which readers scan the ad creative to "buy now."
  • The most popular scans for 2013 were recipes, sweepstakes and video.
  • The total addressable market for Digimarc Discover reached 65 million in 2013, nearly doubling that of the previous year.
The benefit of adding print-to-mobile experiences to magazine editorial and advertising is to seamlessly link readers to related online content such as product details, buy now or social media sharing opportunities. For readers of the largest circulation epicurean magazine in the country, Cooking Light, Digimarc Discover is an extra set of hands in the kitchen and in grocery store aisles.

"Cooking Light introduced its 11 million readers to Digimarc Discover in January 2013 when we began embedding digital watermarks behind all finished dish images," said Scott Mowbray, Editor, Cooking Light. "Readers love it. With the click of a button, they can save recipes and add ingredients to shopping lists on their mobile devices."

Digimarc IDs can be embedded into every component of a marketing campaign -- print ads, catalogs, brochures, direct mail, television and radio advertisements, retail signage, product hangtags, in-store audio, product packaging and more -- using the Digimarc Discover Online Services Portal (OSP). The platform's valuable engagement metrics help retailers and brands determine how many times Digimarc-enabled assets were scanned and how many unique devices scanned each item.

To access the complete report, please visit www.digimarc.com/reports.

About Digimarc
Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC), based in Beaverton, Oregon, is a leading innovator and provider of consumer engagement, media management, and security solutions that create digital identities for all forms of media and many everyday objects. Digimarc's digital IDs are imperceptible to humans and enable computers, networks and devices like mobile phones to better "see, hear and understand" brand impressions and other objects of interest. Digimarc has built an extensive intellectual property portfolio with patents in digital watermarking, content identification and management, media and object discovery to enable ubiquitous computing and related technologies. Digimarc develops solutions, licenses its intellectual property, and provides development services to business partners across a range of industries. For more information and the latest news, please visit www.digimarc.com and follow us on Twitter @DigimarcCorp.

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