News Corp – an exponential evolution?
Welcome to Unmade, written on a meteorologically mediocre morning at Sisters Beach, Tasmania.
Happy National Potato Day. I salute the king of the carbs.
Today’s writing soundtrack: Ancient Heart, by Tanita Tikaram, a fellow alumni of Queen Mary’s College, Basingstoke. It would be a better anecdote if I could remember anything about her.
News Corp – a good year?
We get our kicks in different ways.
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Tim, as John suggests, apples and oranges comparison. One is subscriber i.e average weekly (really literally daily) sale no mater how accessed/consumer, the other a cume figure or reach. Plus this figure is monthly. Thus anyone whom accessed anything under the masthead, no matter where from including of course Web Site. And note in News Corp report they used two different measurement periods…curious!?! Morgan research have both Weekly and monthly figures, weekly about halves the monthly cume figure. And now they are. once again, the only currency.
Hi Tim.
Just a few thoughts about the Tele. You state … “A supposed monthly audience of 4.6m, but subscribers of 146,761. That’s 32 readers for every subscription. Most of the digital content is paywalled, so where are all the readers coming from?”
I don’t know the numerical details, but I can describe how this apparent anomaly can occur.
First subscribers are the ‘welded-on’ readers/users. They pay for either the print copy or the digital access. The subscriber count is a point-in-time number. Subscribers would typically access or read each day/issue. Put another way … each reader would be an audience of 1 with a frequency of 30 in a month. If they logged in multiple times a day (e.g. to get ASX, sport, headlines etc.) they would be an audience of 1 and a frequency probably in triple digits. They are the bread-and-butter., They provide cash.
But yes it doesn’t explain the massive difference of around 4.5m.
So consider the role that social media has.
A social media user might see an interesting article or headline and post it to their social media app of choice. Their linked friends or followers may see the posting of the story URL and click on it. They may be (and probably are) a non-subscriber but by clicking on the link they join the ranks of being a “User”. It only takes one click in a month, and it might only be for a second or two, and you’re counted. Features such as Google AMP and Facebook News accelerate that apparent anomaly.
In essence they are not comparable measurements.
I note that you picked up that there was a 32x differential. Roughly the same number of days in a month. If these ‘linked users’ only did that once a month then the ‘Subscribers’ would be roughly the same as the “Linked Users’. Food for thought.
Cheers.
P.S. Tim. I just finished reading Unmade. Congratulations on such a well-written detailed account of all the main media, the businesses, the bosses and the blow-hards across a turbulent decade.
Nice mention of the alliteration Tim. The thing is I don’t hear Robert Thomson, I hear the voice of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall who absolutely loves short and sharp sentences when describing his sustainable smallholding on a sunny Sunday in Shropshire.
On Foxtel I note the eyelid fluttering has started in earnest but to this point I have not seen a single positive comment from an institutional investor or financial big wig type, especially with that level of debt hanging around their necks. Plus what happens once Telstra are no longer intertwined and are able to compete..?