Although the much-loved title Prosessori will disappear by the end of 2011, the good news for Finnish engineers is that Sanoma Magazines will launch 3T, a general technology title, on 13th January 2012. This weekly title will have a tabloid format, a tablet version that is free for all subscribers and will publish 40 issues in 2012.
3T will be a general title, targeting engineers and managers in engineering organisations. The name, 3T, is an abbreviation of the Finnish equivalents of the words technology, economy and working life, and the publication will address technology, business and economics, as well as providing a strong recruitment offering.
We’re “guaranteed” a 55,000 circulation (the publishers project that it will be 60,000), with the UIL (the Finnish engineering association) subscribing all its members to provide the vast majority of the circulation. Looking into the details, however, less than one third of the readers will be directly working in engineering and design or R&D, with other readers in management, administration, IT and technician roles. A little over 10% of the readers will be students. Given the broad range of technologies that the title will cover, I suspect that some advertisers might be a little disappointed when they look beyond the unquestionably impressive headline circulation.
3T will offer a comprehensive website, that includes a mobile version as well as the option to read the magazine on a tablet – it’s good to see the publishers experimenting with different delivery methods.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this announcement is the decision to launch a weekly tabloid “newspaper”. This goes against conventional thinking in the B2B publishing industry that readers get news from the web, preferring print for in-depth analysis. The crippling print and postage costs of a weekly title are also a huge factor. I suspect that the involvement of the UIL had a major impact on the format, and I’d be very interested to know whether they demanded a weekly publication for their members, or that because of their financial support Sanoma Magazines could afford to go weekly.
Whilst the loss of Prosessori is a huge disappointment, I’m optimistic that 3T will be able to take its place in the market and provide a strong communications channel to reach Finnish engineers.
