The bulk of printed news is consumer-paid, so why is digital different?
You wouldn’t ask a consumer looking to purchase a single newspaper for an expensive monthly subscription, so why has that become the norm in digital? Christopher Kerrisk explores the confusing world of paid digital news.
Perhaps it sounds radical, and maybe I’ll upset a few people by saying:
“100% of digital news content should be paid and accounted for”.
In news print, 100% of paper copies are paid and accounted for… so, why is less than 1% of digital news content paid for by readers globally?
And we are about to enact this very idea….
Consumers never paid for print. The 1.00 charged didn’t cover the cost of the ftont page. The money came from classifieds.
… Wrong.
BTW, you do realise that your annual Netflix subscription may pay of a second or two of the content you watch?
It’s actually correct. Subs revenue does not cover cost of production & distribution.
If the consumer 100% supported the costs of the newspaper, not just the face cost, then why did it need advertising? That logic doesnt make sense.
For things like news, a whole cultural mindset needs to be shifted. This won’t be easy. There needs to be an understanding of customer pain points in the news cycle journey, and what they really want. There is no point in writing beautiful articles with interactive pages if people don’t care or don’t have the attention span to appreciate them like the creator does – especially with a hard paywall.
If it was a compelling article, and you could pay straight away with Apple Pay for lets say 20c an article, and it showed a pic of the individual author, I would be down for that.
Hello Anonymous,
I am not saying that the consumer 100% supported the cost of the newspaper, rather that 100% of newspaper copies were paid and accounted for. Between individual copies, personal subscriptions, corporate subscriptions, sponsorships & partnerships, marketing/acquisition budgets, waste and returns, 100% of newspaper copies were paid and accounted for.
In addition, it was the combination of these payment types and advertising revenues which made newspapers profitable.
Providing consumers the convenience, choice and flexibility to pay for digital content as aligned to their for individual budgets, lifestyle and preferences will lead to a far greater propensity to pay for content.
Cheers
Chris
Classies paid for newspapers. Classies exist online nowadays.
Subs were gravy, today they are essential
Newspapers seem to be given away these days. Airport lounges, universities, corporate lobbies.
Print is dead.