On weekday evenings and weekends, people of all age groups can been seen relaxing in cafes across the capital reading print newspapers and magazines.

This has been a common sight for many years, especially in neighborhoods like Arat Kilo, Piassa and National Theatre that are known to be flooded by newspaper vendors.

But it is a fact that the number of people flowing to the areas for reading has significantly dwindled since news consumers began to spend most of their time perusing news from the comfort of their phones and computers.

News applications and websites have become the most popular conduits for news, unlike the previous days when newspapers, television and radio were the only options.

There are 31 licensed satellite television stations, 28 radio stations and 25 print media publications, according to the Ethiopian Broadcast Authority, the government authority responsible for licensing broadcast and publication media that is distributed outside a single regional state.

Lately, the usage of social and digital media is significantly expanding. The rate has almost doubled in the past two decades, according to data from internetworldstats.com.

Currently, about 18.6pc of the 100 million-plus population of Ethiopia are daily internet users, according to the same report released in June 2019. The figure includes individuals who access the internet through all devices.

One of the niche products that has begun to have a larger audience among local internet users recently is digital magazines. Digital magazines, like normal magazines in that they are organised the same with chronological numbering, use different social media platforms and their own websites to disseminate their finished product.

Tadias, a New York-based magazine founded by Liben Eabisa and Tsedey Alehegn, was the first local digital magazine on the scene when it was founded in 2003.

Even though the number of these magazines has significantly grown after Tadias, the exact number of magazines is not specifically known, since they are not required to be registered by anyone.

Birhanu Tegegen, director of the Trade Registration & Licensing Office at the Ministry of Trade & Industry, confirmed to Fortunethat there is no category for registering online magazines.

These magazines usually cover issues like news, events, creative arts and entertainment. Interested readers can use the magazines after subscribing to the publications online.

Linkup Addis, a monthly event-based online magazine that was established in July of 2018, is one of them. The magazine was co-founded by Eyob Workneh, a 28-year-old managing director and editor-in-chief at the magazine, Eyasu Abdela, the marketing director, and Benny Yosef, the creative director.

Before coming up with the idea of establishing the online magazine, the founders worked as event organisers for a year. They started the magazine to reach out to more of their target audiences with a goal of creating a social impact using digital media.

Any timely event is qualified to be covered in Linkup Addis. In addition to covering events, the magazine also works as a media partner for events, conferences, workshops and training organisers.

The 17th edition of the publication was released in December 2019, with the face of Solomon Kassa, an Ethiopian tech influencer and author on its front page. The latest edition published this month featured Heddo Siebs, general manager of Hyatt Regency Hotel, one of the franchised hotels operating in the capital, on the cover page.

Linkup Addis, whose owners claim to have 40,000 readers, is available for free.

“Though we gain our profit from advertisements," said Eyob, "we're informing our readers through the content we provide through the magazine."

Jeti Gemeda, a 28-year-old operations manager at Yisakal Entertainment, is one of the 40,000 subscribers to Linkup Addis. Since its free, subscribing in this case means receiving regular emails that announce new issues.

Jeti says that Linkup Addishas introduced her to a lot of inspiring people.

“The magazine features people who haven’t been covered by other media outlets but who are game changers in the society,” Jeti told Fortune.

Another reader, Biniam Wolde-Hana, a 34-year-old teacher at International Community School, says that the virtual magazine is easily accessible compared with print competitors.