While most leading consumer and trade publications now accept photographs in digital form for use in both print and online editions, there are marked differences in the types of digital files that consumer magazines, trade magazines and daily newspapers prefer to receive, and only newspapers state a strong preference to receive digital files instead of film or prints. These are among the conclusions resulting from a new study conducted by Roher Public Relations and its affiliated research firm, Leibowitz/Roher Marketing Inc.
Results of the study, available free of charge as a PDF file at www.roherpr.com, also indicated that major magazines prefer to receive digital photo files on optical or magnetic media, while newspapers will usually want them sent by e-mail. Most respondents, including magazines and newspapers, also said they prefer digital photo files in formats readable by Macintosh rather than Windows computers.
"This is the first comprehensive study of how major publications use digital photo files, whether they prefer digital images over film, and what specifications they have for digital photos in print and Internet publishing," said agency president Richard Roher.
According to Roher, the survey queried editorial art directors at 475 publications making up the nation's top circulation consumer and trade magazines and daily newspapers. Media that did not use photographs were excluded. The questionnaire allowed respondents to provide separate answers concerning their print and their on-line publishing needs.
This is an area where the Mac absolutely rules the industry. Publishing accounting houses are sometimes Windows based, but the vast majority of publishing houses are Mac dominated.
This survey is certainly an interesting one for trivia buffs.