The newly launched
Very Interesting Junior magazine fuses education and entertainment into content for readers of all ages. The new publication builds on the success of the Very Interesting brand to make learning fun.
The magazine was recently added to
Target Media Directory, a database of media titles in South Africa and the rest of Africa. The Target Media Directory team chatted to Panorama Media Corp, the publisher of
Very Interesting Junior, about why the magazine was launched and Here's what the team at Panorama Media Corp had to say:
What led Panorama Media Corp to branch off from the Very Interesting brand to launch Very Interesting Junior?
Very Interesting is a very strong brand for us and has found itself a unique place in the local market. We felt that something along the lines of Very Interesting would work perfectly for the child/tween market because of their thirst for knowledge.
We also note the focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects as children progress from primary to high school, and felt that fostering a love of science, technology and the natural world would be beneficial for both children and parents in preparing children for these subjects.
Very Interesting Junior targets the child magazine market. What does it take to be successful in this market, and how does the new publication fit into this criteria?
We consider this market an opportunity to engage young minds in off-screen reading – exploring the tactile experience of magazine reading. These days, as with any magazine sector, it is important to give readers value for their money. Each issue must both educate and entertain the target audience. Panorama Media has a long history of specialising in edutainment content.
Very Interesting Junior asks a lot of questions in a quirky way that we hope will engage children. If they can walk away knowing things that they may want to share with their friends, or that prompts further research from their side, we have achieved our goal of encouraging children to expand their minds.
Very Interesting Junior aims to make learning about science, history, technology, the environment and several other subjects fun for parents and children alike. How does it do this?
We try to answer questions that people didn’t even know they wanted to ask. Anyone can tell you information about life cycles, for example, but we will tell you where mosquitoes go in winter and what would happen if you tried to dig to the centre of the Earth.
We’ll tell you about clones and drones, give you fascinating facts about animals, and explore space, natural disasters, dinosaurs and megastructures with you. It’s fun stuff that challenges you to think outside the box.
How does Very Interesting Junior aim to “foster love for science and the natural world” in its readers, and how important are visuals in helping to achieve this goal?
Images are very important in this respect. Reams of text would put even an adult off. In an “always on” society and an age when attention spans are geared for digital, you don’t have long to catch someone’s eye.
Very Interesting Junior is visually appealing and uses engaging pictures to tell stories and draw readers in. In our first issue, we even made use of virtual reality to make a bug walk over your magazine. You have to have fun in order to learn.
What is the value of a print publication like Very Interesting Junior in a learning environment that is increasingly dominated by digital technology and screens?
Digital is great for learning, but it doesn’t encourage the same level of involvement that print does. It is one thing to flick through a website – where the amount of time spent per page is very small and there is a great deal of distractions – and another to sit down with a magazine and read articles.
Digital is great for learning, but it doesn’t encourage the same level of involvement that print does.
Magazine reading is ‘me time’, a reader’s time to pause and break the cycle of constant information download. Research has shown that 30% less information is retained when screen reading versus ink on paper content consumption in the conventional way.
You will also find that the typical habit of Googling for answers may not yield very reliable results, whereas the articles in
Very Interesting Junior are credible, well-researched and backed up by studies, and content is curated and tailored to be optimally impactful. This should give parents peace of mind, knowing that their children are learning from a reliable source.
It is our quest to guide young curious minds in acquiring knowledge in an entertaining and enjoyable manner.
Visit
veryinteresting.co.za for details about the Very Interesting brand.
Sign up at
www.targetmedia.co.za to get detailed information about educational publications like
Very Interesting Junior.
Target Media Directory is a comprehensive media database that provides in-depth details of publications, broadcast stations, websites and blogs in South Africa, as well as prominent media titles across the African continent.
The details of Radius magazine was also recently added to Target Media Directory. Get to know the publication in our post, Radius magazine: Serving the South African agri audience.