The Readly app, known as the Netflix of magazines, arrives in Italy. It already counts 4000 titles and is preparing to conquer our readers. Here's how it works
The web of the future (but also of the present, given the trend) is that of subscription services. A trend that concerns not only audio and video streaming but also magazines and newspapers. One example is Apple News +, which already has thousands of users in our country. And that soon will be joined by a new Swedish reality. It is Readly and is considered by many as the Netflix of magazines.
It is a former startup founded in Sweden in 2012, which immediately attracted the interest of investors and then expanded into Austria, Ireland, UK, Germany and other European countries. Since March, it has been part of the Financial Times' list of 1000 fastest growing companies.
How does Readly work in Italy?
The app is available for both Android devices and iPhone or iPad. The Android subscription costs €9.90, which is currently on promotion at €0.99 for the first two months. On iOS instead it is priced at €11.99. The business model is based on revenue sharing: in fact, publishers who make their content available, in exchange for data related to the tastes and preferences of readers. Already 72 Italian magazines have joined the service, including those of the Mondadori Group, Sprea Editori and Hearst Italia. You can't browse through any national newspapers yet, but you can read several international ones, such as Time and Newsweek. In addition, you can look at famous magazines such as Vogue and Wired.
The proposed experience is similar to that offered by PDFs, where to turn pages you use your finger sliding on the screen. But the company has announced that it is working on a mobile-friendly version that will be gradually introduced in Italy. In Italy, the first magazines that can be read in this way will be Grazia, Elle and Cosmopolitan.
Personalized experience
The Readly application is built to offer a personalized experience. In fact, you can place magazines and articles within a Favorites section, where you can then quickly and easily find and re-read them. It will be possible to read both the latest issue, as soon as it comes out at the newsstand, and all back issues. Finally, you will be able to download the magazines so that you can also read them off-line. In short, the service is designed to meet the needs of users and will certainly be much appreciated by readers throughout Italy.