Paid Content Strategies: Are they working?

Amanda Knowles — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 22:26:00 GMT

By Varun Saxena

Paid content strategies are "sure as hell better," Chris Peck, editor of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, told the audience at this session Tuesday afternoon.

Before moving toward paid Internet content, revenue at the paper had fallen by 50 percent, and the website received "a lot of eyeballs but not enough revenue," he said.

Now, the paper charges $9.99 a month for smartphone and tablet computer apps, and content has contributed $400,000 in new revenue in its first four months.

Tasaka Digital consultant Guy Tasaka helped to design the Commercial Appeal's strategy. He said it was focused on retaining paid print subscribers by bundling digital content with the print subscription.

Tasaka and Peck said they expect the trend toward more paid electronic content to continue. Peck cited a study which found that 26 percent of American households have a tablet.

"The budget isn't the enemy. Time is," Tasaka said.

Robert Gursha, vice president of marketing for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, also reported that charging for digital content is a winning strategy.

The keys are to have a strong brand name, relevant and differentiated content, and a sound pricing strategy, he said.

The Star Tribune uses a "step up" price strategy, meaning the cost of digital content rises after the trial period, he said.

The newspaper has increased the price of home delivery by 10 percent and included access to electronic content. Sunday-only print subscribers pay extra for digital content.

The Star Tribune has 132,000 digital accounts and has experienced 24 consecutive months of circulation growth, Gursha said.

In the past advertising, accounted for 75 percent of Star Tribune revenues, with subscriptions accounting for the remainder, but Gursha said subscriptions will contribute half of future revenue.

The Boston Globe started charging for content in September 2011 and owns boston.com. This approach allows the company to reach casual readers and charge serious ones, said Peter Doucette, the newspaper's director of circulation, sales and marketing.

Lisa DeSisto, Boston.com's chief advertising officer, said it's a challenge to promote the Globe's content on the site without undermining its fee-for-service model.

Varun Saxena is a student at the University of Maryland. He is one of several local university journalism students reporting live from NAA mediaXchange 2012 in Washington, D.C.

Nisenholtz: ‘Our content is not out there to be stolen’ - #NAAmXc11

Amanda Knowles — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:04:00 GMT

By Fernando Valdes

The New York Times, the most linked and tweeted source in the world, started a new era today (March 28) by seizing control of its content and managing the way its links are used by implementing a highly anticipated paywall.

Monday morning's keynote speaker Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice president of digital operations at The New York Times Co., said online newspapers are in a new era in which they can't sustain themselves by allowing people to use their content freely with no preconditions and copyright controls. Newspapers have to manage content in order to keep providing it while still remaining successful.

"I would really be careful of the word lockdown - it is not what we are doing," Nisenholtz said. "We don't want to do that. We call this ‘managed links' because we are saying we need some managed process on the way our content is used on the Internet."

With the new paywall, users can read up to 20 articles for free every four weeks. After that, users must pay in order to access content.

The paywall is part of a larger Times strategy to manage its content.

"We are beginning to enforce the idea that our content is not out there to be stolen and to be remixed into a greater experience that can be monetized by Silicon Valley. It's not fair and will not continue," Nisenholtz said.

According to Nisenholtz, a pure link is of no value to The New York Times. It only creates value for those aggregating the links to their own websites.

Nisenholtz said that if links are not managed, in five to 10 years there will be no content providers because they will all be out of business.

He noted that The Times is confident in its paywall and has no plans for moving away from it in the near future.

"We have done a significant amount of research," he said. "We are reasonably sure of ourselves. I don't think any of us is looking at a plan B."

The New York Times has implemented a flexible module that allows for raising the number of free articles users can view in order to generate more advertising revenue. Alternatively, the number can be lowered to gain more subscribers.

Nisenholtz said the paywall gives The Times flexibility with content and tighter controls over copyright. The alternative? The industry "will be nibbled to death."

Fernando Valdes is a student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Find out more about Fernando and other students reporting live from NAA's mediaXchange here.

NAA mediaXchange : paid content

Paid Content Strategies: Are they working?

Nisenholtz: ‘Our content is not out there to be stolen’ - #NAAmXc11