Screw audiobooks, now we have videomagazines

Traditional magazines have been taking a nosedive in readership in the past few years, with more and more people turning to the internet for all their magazine-y needs. But we’re about to see if adding technology to the printed page will bring back readers who left for more technological pastures to begin with.

The September 18th New York and Los Angeles editions of Entertainment Weekly will the proving grounds for an all new form of advertising: video. Yes, that’s right, video on the printed page of a traditional magazine. 

The technology — Video In Print or VIP — was created by Americhip, and works like those musical greeting cards that your grandma sometimes sends you; turn the page and the video is activated. VIP allows for up to 40 minutes of video. CBS and Pepsi Max are stepping up this time around, showing off the fall TV line-up interspersed with Pepsi spots.

It seems like this is a pretty expensive way to reach people, but the novelty of it all just might pay off. Now how would you sell this new media format to your client?