Newspaper: Newport Daily News
City: Newport, R.I.
Circulation: 12,000
Pricing plan: Online-only subscriptions cost $5 a day, $10 a week, $35 a month, or $345 a year. Print and online combo subscriptions cost $11 a month or $100 a year. Obituaries, classifieds, blogs, and a copy of the front page are available for free online.
When pay wall was introduced: June 2009
Results: Publisher Buck Sherman told us that the goal was to “drive people back to the printed paper” and not to bring in online revenue. He says that so far “we have done well,” adding that single-copy sales are up 8 percent. Website traffic is down by about 30 percent since the paper began to charge, according to Compete figures.
Comment: The Daily News model grabbed headlines earlier this year because the paper was charging substantially more for the electronic edition of the paper than the print one. Competition is limited, with the much bigger Providence Journal pulling back on statewide coverage.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Snapshots of papers that charge for content
PaidContent has an interesting piece that looks at how papers that began charging for online access are fairing. Most of the papers are small dailies and seem to be charging to protect their print edition.
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2 comments:
Some small town newspapers could produce more income without losing paid paper subscriptions - the "Mercer Island Reporter," as an example. I think those who still subscribe to the paper edition would not give it up. This is an affluent community. School parents use it as their bible. There are many many others, however, who read the whole paper online without charge who might be willing to pay $10/year. For small town papers, every little bit helps and the more paying customers, the better for charging higher ad rates, right?
Steve, could you contact me. I have something you might want to see.
Marty Gale
Marty! It's been so long. Still at the same e-mail address?
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