The Java Developer's Journal topped BPA International's first listing of the top 10 business publications ranked by volume of digital subscriptions for the reporting period ending June 30, 2003.
That title and the nine others all were technology-related, including a few about design engineering.
An analysis shows that digital subscriptions in a majority of the cases still form less than 15 percent of overall circulation, though a few are more receptive to digital because of the nature of their focus.
A major exception to that was the No. 1 publication. According to the audit, 43.1 percent of the total qualified circulation of the Java Developer's Journal was digital-only subscriptions. Also, 19.9 percent of total qualified circulation, or 32,320, was disclosed as both digital and print subscriptions.
No. 2 on the list was eWeek, with digital-only subscriptions accounting for 13.6 percent of the total qualified circulation of 422,600. There were no reported subscribers for both print and digital versions.
NASA Tech Briefs reported 12.3 percent of its qualified circulation of 195,405 as digital-only subscribers. Only 0.1 percent of the total circulation received both digital and print versions.
Network Magazine's cut of digital-only subscriptions was lower at 6.4 percent of total qualified circulation of 200,000. It did not report subscribers receiving both digital and print versions.
A far smaller title compared with the others on the BPA list. SD Times's digital-only subscriptions accounted for 23.1 percent of its qualified circulation. And 5.4 percent of its subscribers received both digital and print formats.
Design News was sixth on the list, with digital-only subscriptions accounting for 6.7 percent of the total circulation of 170,243. It did not report any subscribers receiving both print and digital versions.
Microsoft Certified Professional saw digital-only subscriptions accounting for 8.9 percent of its qualified circulation of 111,834. The title said 1,570 subscribers, or 1.4 percent, received both digital and print formats.
The bottom three had no overlap in print and digital versions. And like many on the list, the quantity of digital-only subscriptions was under 15 percent. It was 4.1 percent out of EE Times' circulation of 153,823, 14.6 percent of Wireless Week's 31,730 circulation and 5.7 percent of Control's circulation of 70,050.
Under BPA rules, a subscriber who opted to receive both the print and digital editions of a publication is reported only once and counted a single time within that title's total circulation.
Another point to note is industry expectation that digital subscriptions will not simply keep climbing or make quantum leaps. There is a certain natural level of subscribers interested in digital versions on any given title, which is reached after a few years.
