Online video offers magazines opportunities to profit from the digital revolution without cannibalizing their businesses, according to speakers at a Magazine Publishers of America forum held this week in New York, writes MediaPost. Online video differentiates magazines' online offerings from their print editions, allowing online properties to attract viewers without undermining the print publications, executives said.

Several magazines, including ESPN The Magazine, National Geographic, and gaming publications published by IDG Entertainment, are already venturing into digital video.

Moreover, online video is both inexpensive to produce and constitutes a valuable revenue stream because marketers pay a premium for good-quality video inventory. Cheapest of all, of course, is user-generated content, which sites such as YouTube encourage.

After a sizable initial investment in digital infrastructure, the cost of online content can be kept quite low, as viewers may simply be interested in "behind-the-scenes" footage that takes them inside the editorial process, according to ESPN Publishing's SVP and GM Keith Clinkscales.