[LINK] Newspapers online

[Kim Holburn]

On 2010/Mar/27, at 4:06 PM, David Goldstein wrote:

> The article said "becoming the first media firm to test consumers'  
> appetite to pay for mass-market news online." Note the words "mass- 
> market".

What does it mean to you, "mass-market"?

In this article there's a chart of 27 newspapers who put up a paywall:

http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2010/01/only-24-subscribe-at-newspaper-pay.html
> Only 2.4% subscribe at newspaper pay sites
> A puny 2.4% of print subscribers is the average number of people  
> paying for online content at the handful of daily newspapers that  
> have been bold enough to erect pay walls, according to a new survey.
>
> In the first comprehensive study of actual consumer willingness to  
> pay for online news, ITZ/Belden Interactive delivered both good and  
> bad tidings to publishers hoping to begin charging for their content.
>

The real problem is that printed newspapers are funded by advertising,  
not the token fee or subscription.  The internet does classifieds  
better than newspapers ever could.

http://blog.wakefly.com/bid/11478/Online-Newspaper-Pay-Walls-Online-Newspapers-Fail-to-Monetize

> First, the New York Times failed with Times Select. Now, the same  
> fate has befallen Newsday's pay wall:
>
> In late October, Newsday, the Long Island daily that the Dolans  
> bought for $650 million, put its web site, newsday.com, behind a pay  
> wall. The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take  
> the plunge by putting up a pay wall, so in media circles it has been  
> followed with interest. Could its fate be a sign of what others,  
> including The New York Times, might expect?
>
> So, three months later, how many people have signed up to pay $5 a  
> week, or $260 a year, to get unfettered access to newsday.com?
>
> The answer: 35 people. As in fewer than three dozen. As in a decent- 
> sized elementary-school class.
>
> Times Select had readers pay $50 a year to read the newspaper's  
> columnists as well as have access to the full, historical archives  
> and other premium material. After drawing 221,000 subscribers, the  
> newspaper pulled the initiative because advertising revenue  
> declined. Newsday took it one step further and charged for all  
> website access (except for print subscribers). Both did not succeed.



And yet there are also successful examples of online newspapers with  
paywalls.

>
> David
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: Kim Holburn <kim at holburn.net>
>> To: Link list <Link at anu.edu.au>
>> Sent: Sat, 27 March, 2010 2:56:28 PM
>> Subject: Re: [LINK] Newspapers online
>>
>> I got to the first paragraph and it was not actually true.
>
> On
>> 2010/Mar/27, at 12:26 PM, > href="mailto:stephen at melbpc.org.au">stephen at melbpc.org.au 
>>  wrote:
>
>>
>> News Corp to charge for UK Times online from June
>>
>> by Georgina
>> Prodhan, London, Fri Mar 26, 2010  www.reuters.com
>>
>>
>>
>> (Reuters) - News Corp will charge readers for online versions of its
>>
>> UK
>> Times and Sunday Times newspapers from June, becoming the
>> first media
>> firm to test consumers' appetite to pay for mass-market news
>> online.
>
> First media company to ask people to pay for online news?  I
>> don't
> think so.  Is its content in general going to be as
>> accurate as this?
> Off the top of my head I can think of 2 media firms
>> which have had
> paid news sites for several years.  There may be
>> lots of paid sites so
> obscure that few of us have ever heard of them
>> or that have
> disappeared into the bit bucket.
>
> Kim
> -- 
> Kim
>> Holburn
> IT Network & Security Consultant
> T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61
>> 404072753
> mailto:> href="mailto:kim at holburn.net">kim at holburn.net
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-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
T: +61 2 61402408  M: +61 404072753
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request