Do you remember Highlights magazine – the one your grandparents bought you a subscription to that had Hidden Picture® puzzles, games, riddles, craft ideas and more for kids? That 70-year-old print magazine is reimagining its future digitally, subscription style, reports Tech Crunch.
Highlights new product, Highlights Every Day, is available for iOS and Android for smartphones and tablets and is suitable for kids ages 6 and up. After a free trial, the Highlights Every Day digital subscription is $7.99 a month, and it offers kids five times more skill-building activities with new items being added daily. Highlights Every Day includes:
- Hundreds of videos, puzzles, stories, and games
- Exclusive content only available to subscribers
- Skill-building Hidden Pictures®
- Interactive quizzes
Image courtesy of Highlights
“In today’s crowded digital landscape, Highlights Every Day offers the screen time kids crave, backed by the quality content parents have always trusted and expected from Highlights,” said Highlights in a press release about the launch. “Created in partnership with Fingerprint, Highlights Every Day features classic Highlights ‘Fun with a Purpose’ reimagined for growing digital consumption habits of children. With kids’ screen time averaging more than four hours per day, parents are increasingly concerned about what their kids are doing with their devices.”
This product is the latest addition to Highlights’ products, including print magazine subscriptions, magazines for age groups 0 to 2, 2 to 6 and 6 to 12, each $39.96 for an annual subscription, books, toys and book clubs like MathmaniaTM. This gives the company three types of content: free, paid and subscription-based products with revenue from one-time purchases and as well as recurring revenue from print and digital products.
“Highlights Every Day provides parents with the safe, trusted, educational content that they expect from us, in a new on-the-go, portable format,” said Kent Johnson, CEO of Highlights for Children Inc. “What’s truly unique about Highlights Every Day is that it’s neither a digital replica nor a replacement for our much-loved print publication, but an easy-to-consume, mobile platform inspired by Highlights magazine. We know that kids are going to love getting a present from Highlights every day, and parents can feel good about handing their kids a phone or tablet, knowing they’re learning and having fun with it.”
Insider Take:
As Highlights points out, the future of digital educational and entertainment tools is growing. While the company may be solid with 2 million print subscribers, it needs to plan for potential print declines by offering digital options. By partnering with Fingerprint, Highlights can focus on the quality content it is known for while letting someone else worry about the technology side of things.
As fans of Highlights, we love the wholesome, educational content offered by the company, and we agree that diversification is needed for the company to be successful long-term. Highlights is smart to reimagine its brand with new digital offerings, while retaining what it has always done well. It has a good subscriber base to start marketing to, but it also needs to differentiate itself from other digital subscription services for kids, including Curious World, Nickelodeon’s Noggin and Sesame Street On Demand. Its long-term brand recognition spanning generations will be a big advantage.
~ Dana E. Neuts, Senior Staff Writer, Subscription Insider
