A priori, nothing more than old-fashioned photo novel. However, the weekly two of us, the great French specialist in this kind of story in pictures, sold 290,000 weekly copies. Created in 1947 by newspaper publisher Cino Del Duca, the magazine is now owned by the Italian group Mondadori. Spurred on by the director of the center woman, Carole Fagot, it has launched the photo story on iPhone and iPad. For 0.79 euro, it is possible to download an application that allows you to scroll on the screen of their smartphone or its tablet a complete story, image after image, bubble after bubble.
"The idea came from Japan, where people are accustomed to reading novels on their mobile phones, said Ms Fagot. We did this test with some skepticism, given that iPhone users are rather people with high incomes living in big cities. Exactly the opposite of our readership. "Against all odds and without any advertising, success is the appointment, since the application was downloaded 25,000 times. We are now looking to export two novels, photos smartphone in Asia.
The newspaper is sold primarily on newsstands at a price of 1.95 euro. Each week, he offers three picture stories, five new and practical information. Its audience is female, and rather provincial areas. Some 84% of readers live outside the Paris area, 45% in cities under 20,000 inhabitants. "The typical reader is a woman of modest background, aged 53, who manages his family and his everyday life and at the same time, she likes to dream and believe in love," says Dominique Faber, Associate Editor responsible for fiction.
Television did not kill the photo novel. The two readers We are also followers of soap operas like "The Young and the Restless." "The two are complementary, says Faber. TV is something we look at family, with the noise around you. The picture story is of the order of the intimate."
The genus has also been adapted - slowly - in today's society. We will soon publish a two story whose heroine is a beurette. She works in the commercial sector and live a love affair with her boss. This is a first in the history of the weekly. "The social issues are present in our long stories, says Dominique Faber. Abortion, AIDS, blended families. With the end always positive and love that triumphs."
