The West Australian introduces digital subscriptions and paywall
Seven West Media’s The West Australian has introduced a digital subscription model for its platform thewest.com.au.
The publisher said this will include a ‘freemium’ model as well as the option to subscribe to exclusive content for $1 per day.
The West Australian has started its paywall push
Seven West Media’s WA CEO, Maryna Fewster, said the move will allow the publisher to produce deeper content, and understand what consumers want from the publication.
“As media consumption habits evolve, we have made a commitment to provide our audience with the best journalism whether in print or online. The introduction of digital subscriptions to thewest.com.au will allow for a deeper content experience for our subscribers, and for us, a better understanding of the content that West Australians want to read,” Fewster said.
“Introducing a business to consumer subscription model diversifies our revenue opportunities, further solidifying the future growth of our business. The technical solution and content strategy has been developed right here in WA and I’m proud of how the teams have worked together to bring this to life.”
The West Australian’s senior editor Anthony De Ceglie – who came across from his previous role as deputy editor of News Corp’s The Daily Telegraph in Sydney at the start of the year – said he was excited to take thewest.com.au forward into a new era of digital journalism.
“At the heart of our strategy is that our readers are passionate about the journalism we produce every single day,” he said.
“Under a subscription model, we can offer digital premium customers a richer experience where they access exclusive in-depth special investigations, unrivalled commentary on the issues of the day and second-to-none AFL coverage of the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Dockers.
The West Australian’s digital subscription options
“We look forward to rolling out the first of a series of special online journalism projects for those who subscribe to thewest.com.au in the coming days.”
Speaking to Mumbrella earlier this year, De Ceglie anticipated the biggest task would be convincing the audience of the merits and motivations of a paywall.
“Putting The West behind a paywall for the first time, and getting that to work, and properly communicating to the audience why we are doing it and why it’s the future of journalism, why we need their support and why the money is worth it [is the biggest challenge],” he said.
He noted the Claremont serial killer case was going to trial in mid 2019, and said he hoped the paywall would be able to capitalise on that.
“We know that true crime is such a big driver of subscriptions and such a big driver of eyeballs and audiences that I really want to have us behind the paywall before then, so we can explain to our readers why that journalism is actually worth their money, why the quality is worth their money.
“I really believe that at the end of the day the one thing we know is that news works, and that people devour news. They are probably devouring more news than they ever have, and it’s about how we get that news to them and convince them it is worth paying for.”
De Ceglie: ‘True crime is such a big driver of subscriptions ‘
De Ceglie also noted a paywall would help the publisher use more News Corp content. The West Australian has a content sharing agreement with News Corp, allowing The West Australian to use any News Corp content in its print editions. Until a paywall was introduced, however, The West Australian could not repurpose the content for its digital platform.
“It will come in really handy when we put The West behind a paywall,” he said back in March. “So at the moment, although we have access to the content in print, we can’t use it unless it’s behind a paywall online.”
The Everyday Digital subscription now costs $1 per day, and includes digital editions of The West Australian and The Sunday Times. For $2 more per week, subscribers can also have The Weekend West and The Sunday times delivered.
The paper called for voluntary redundancies in March as it looked to integrate the newsrooms of The Sunday Times, The West Australian, Perth Now and thewest.com.au.
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News did it first!
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This west site doesn’t have much news, just teasers around the video content they re-purpose from their seven news content. Each clip has up to 30 seconds of ads before the content so this was the worse of both worlds strategy. I don’t know how they are going to suddenly offer more depth or quality if they haven’t managed it after all these years. They need a completely new platform. There are some simple things they can do to leverage sticky West Australian readers but there is no sign they even know what that might be.
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As soon as they did this I unsubscribed – the web is huge and SO much free news why someone would pay $1- a day baffles me. See ya The West!
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The internet highlights which publishers deliver product of value. The West is not one of those and survives purely on the fact of local ads. The paywall is its sign that ads are not enough. So it’s stuffed.
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Rubbish journalism now comes at a cost.
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Think or how many Copy/Pasters they can get with the paywall revenue!
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Copy & paste News Ltd content for your paywall strategy. Sums up this place nicely. That complemented by the CEO saying they’re committed to having the best journalism after letting go of the entire political team. Nobody will pay for this and if they do, it will be cancelled inside the first 6 months. Desperate times at the swamp
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A cry for help from the west. The regulators have created a monopoly mining/liberal party newsletter using News Ltd naggers bolstering local mining interests. It’s woeful and the regulators should be ashamed.
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Who in their right mind would pay for that appalling journalism combined with a complete lack of basic English editing?!! What an embarrassment for our state.
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‘The West’ has become the Australian version of the UK Daily Mail and Express – appalling ‘play-on-word’ headlines and ‘celebrity lifestyle’ articles. Inside Cover seems to be masquerading as an unpaid (?) vehicle for the ‘don’t panic’ series of retirement investment publications. I would never consider paying to subscrbe to news that might actually be worth reading in the daily hard copy of ‘The West’
I mostly read the local library’s copy of the publication & the Sunday Times is generally a repeat of the previous week’s news 🙁
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They forget about those that rely on digital media to access news that are living below the poverty line. When you are disabled it is not always possible to get to a library or other place where you can read a newspaper free. The $7 minimum a week you have to pay put into context is more than the cost of a months supply of one necessary medication or a meal. Obviously if you do not have the money to waste to be able to see if you want to read the news then they think you do not need to know what is happening
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Yes I agree, The West ain’t what she used to be, it really has become a propaganda sheet for Channel 7, I agree with Doug Rob and will not be subscribing, and pick up the West as and when I need it.
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$365 a year for the appalling recycled dribble that comes out of the West. No chance I will be subscribing .
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Really disappointed as was the best news app for the west and will not be paying a subscription fee!
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Another tacky channel 7 magazine. No longer a news paper.
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Why would anybody pay for News? This was why news agencies were government owned originally. To ensure the general public had access to worldly relevant information. That didn’t work out perfectly so they allowed privately owned media to balance against the state owned offerings. The original purpose is still an essential. Ensuring the general public has access to Worldly relevant information.
Paying for a paper was to cover the costs of distribution of the physical paper, not for the content.
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