Everything old is news again
Honner senior consultant Suzanne Dwyer provides a timely reminder that traditional news isn’t quite as old school as most PRs assume.
All around the world, paid subscriptions for traditional mastheads are rising.
The Australian Financial Review has recently reported a 40% increase in digital retail subscriptions over the last three years. In May, News Corp reported digital subscribers for its Australian mastheads had increased 23% on the previous year.
But what is happening with the total subscription numbers, and total subscription revenue? If online subscriptions are increasing at a lower rate than print subscription losses, there is a net loss of subscribers.
News recently hard-paywalled all its regional stuff, how much of the “growth” can be attributed to that? Some? Quite a bit?
Very thought provoking. It is the new norm to subscribe to streaming platforms – should news be inherently free or is it not much more of a leap to pay for clarity and transparency journalism