What I find truly baffling is the recent efforts a subscription of mine has taken to convert me to a digital subscriber. They won't give me the digital edition for free which, as you said, is the same content with videos of how they did a photoshoot or other content that didn't make the print edition for a good reason, like bad DVD extras they had to stuff in because it's expected. Won't this just hurt their print subscription base and hasten the decline of print media? What is the rationale behind this? I like my magazines. I get solid content at what is often a dollar an issue as a subscriber. I don't like reading long articles on a glowing screen with flashing ads.
In the entertainment industry, you call it a second screen strategy: you want to engage your viewers online as they watch the boob tube, so you create content designed to be enjoyed in tandem with the main show. I think that's what they're going for: extra bits and bobs that make the magazine more awesomer. Problem is, you start out by duplicating the magazine, and duplicating it badly. Then you add extraneous bullshit on top of that - when really what you want is "more to explore" and the like. Finally, you charge money for your extraneous bullshit instead of recognizing that the online portion is a loss-leader to increase the value of your premium product. And then you go "what went wrong?"