The Internet has created many opportunities to access information freely and quickly. Varian, the authors of Information Rules, when it comes to information goods, it is necessary to; .
" understand whether the on-line version stimulates sales or steals them from the off-line version." (p. 64).
In the winter 2000/2001 edition of Foliomag.com, an article by Dale Buss "Strutting your Internet Stuff" analyses five magazines that are making information available on-line and off-line. Two of these include National Geographic and Time magazine.
National Geographic focused on highlighting what consumers would find useful on the website such as additional information on programs aired on the National Geographic television channels and related travel sites; in addition to TV programming and the print version of National Geographic. The main aim was to create a multimedia information source rather than promote the website as an individual information good.
This method of versioning focuses on adding value to the Internet content rather than selling a product, as discussed by Shapiro and Varian. The website does not cannibalize on the sales of the print magazine, but acts as a support column to the other existing channels belonging to National Geographic. The website does not undermine the sales or capital of the off-line version in areas such as advertising. Marketing is done through continuous mentions of the website at the end of each article in the magazine, or at the end of each TV program. Partnerships with other companies such as Yahoo!, Tripfinder.com, and Iexplore.com, also generate revenues for the website.
Time magazine also offers an on-line version of its magazine at http://www.time.com/. Through a partnership with America Online, there was little need to promote the on-line version through the traditional channels. The on-line version does not take away from the print version of the magazines, since a partnership with AOL means that Time can put less into advertising on-line, and concentrate the funding on the print version.
