Future readies revamped Total Film iPad title

Future Publishing is to launch a fully interactive iPad version of its Total Film magazine, the first app for one of its key brands to be created using its new in-house publishing platform.

Total Film

Total Film HD launches on the Apple Newsstand at the end of the week (11 May) with an exclusive The Dark Knight Rises cover story alongside interactive pages, full-screen video and bespoke picture galleries.

Additionally, readers will be able to copy and share text from the app with friends on social media networks.

The title is the first from the media group’s roster of key brands to be developed using FutureFolio, its Apple-approved app-creation tool for iPad and iPhone devices.

Future launched the platform earlier this year with the release of titles Cycling News HD and tech magazine Tap!, and is currently in the process of marketing the platform to other publishers.

By marketing its own tool, the company aims to educate tablet advertisers on how to be more creative with their content and ultimately drive revenue from premium mobile advertising.

Mark Wood, chief executive at Future Publishing, says the interactive iPad advertising market is nascent, and as a publisher at the forefront of tablet publishing the business is having to “almost create” the market by creating its own app development software.

Future has been developing ads for brands such as Audi, Intel and Samsung since it first moved into the tablet market in 2012, and claims its platform will allow publishers to think more like app developers when it comes to their tablet editions.

“We’ve identified an area of the publishing business model that we can grow our business outside of traditional print revenues.”

Publishers who create applications on FutureFolio will not be required to share consumer data with Future, which has over 70 titles available to purchase on Apple’s Newsstand.

The strategy sets Future apart from rivals such as Conde Nast and Bauer Media, which both develop their tablet editions internally, however use proprietary tools such as Woodwing and Adobe to actually build them.

Speaking today at the PPA Conference in London, Wood outlined how FutureFolio is part of wider efforts to grow its multi-platform offering over the next year, which also includes ramping up the community model it used to launch lifestyle magazine Mollie Makes.

The news comes as Future announces a management overhaul of its portfolio of video game and film brands, the latest phase of its strategy to work closer with commercial partners. Associate publisher for digital Don Ditri has been named as head of commercial development for entertainment and Clair Porteous, former group publisher, has been promoted to the role of head of digital development for entertainment.

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