paid content | Internet Marketing Blog

NY Times pay wall: the good, the bad, the ugly

One of the most storied news dailies, The New York Times, has been talking about a pay wall for well over a year. Like most newspapers, times are tough, and to survive and thrive, new sources of revenue must be found. For obvious reasons, subscriptions are one of the most appealing potential revenue sources.

Yesterday, The New York Times finally pulled the trigger and announced that it will be launching a paid subscription model later this month.

by Patricio Robles 22 March 2011 23:31pm 3 comments

Apple's App Store subscriptions: the good, the bad and the ugly

Some publishers believe that Apple may hold the key to a profitable future. Thanks to the success of the company's iPad, for instance, there's a lot of excitement amongst traditional publishers who have seen their revenue from 'old' channels like print plummet. Some publishing moguls, such as Rupert Murdoch, are so excited that they're investing tens of millions of dollars in iPad publishing.

But previously, there was a huge barrier: a lack of an Apple-sanctioned solution for selling subscriptions from within Apps. That solution came yesterday, and it offers some things publishers will probably love, but a few things publishers will likely hate too.

by Patricio Robles 16 February 2011 13:19pm 4 comments

Murdoch's The Daily: can it work?

Yesterday, News Corp. made what many publishing executives hope will be one of the most important announcements in the annals of digital publishing: the launch of the much-anticipated iPad publication, The Daily.

But while subscribing to The Daily is probably accurately described as 'affordable' at 99 cents a week, or $39.99/year, producing the publication isn't. News Corp. has confirmed that its investment to date is already a whopping $30m, and that The Daily will have a weekly overhead of $500,000.

by Patricio Robles 03 February 2011 09:32am 5 comments

Paid content on the iPad is just like on the web: report

Media executives around the world are holding their breath. Rupert Murdoch's bold and risky bet on the iPad is on the way. The ultimate hope: it will prove that the iPad is a viable platform for profitable content distribution. A big part of the 'profitable' part: paid content.

But media executives might not want to hold their breath for too long. According to research firm Knowledge Networks, consumer expectations on the iPad look a lot like consumer expectations on the internet.

by Patricio Robles 18 January 2011 14:50pm 2 comments

Your iPad newspaper: even more expensive than the real thing?

Ask many consumers why they've stopped purchasing dead tree publications like newspapers, and chances are you'll hear comments like "the cost is too high."

Ask those same consumers what they expect when it comes to the digital/tablet versions of their newspapers of choice, and you'll probably learn that they expect the cost to be lower. And for good reason: there's no paper and ink to buy; the marginal cost of selling an issue of a newspaper on an iPad is pretty close to $0.

by Patricio Robles 22 December 2010 09:26am 4 comments

The secret to The Financial Times' iPad success

The Financial Times is one of the few major print publishers that has succeeded in a big way with paid content. And while other print publishers who hoped that the iPad would help them revitalize their businesses struggle with the iPad, the FT looks like it has extended its existing success to the platform.

According to The Guardian, the FT's iPad app has now produced more than £1m in ad revenue since it was released to the public in May. What's more: of the 400,000 people who have downloaded the app, a decent number are subscribing; the iPad app now delivers 10% of the FT's new digital subscribers.

by Patricio Robles 13 October 2010 08:50am 3 comments

The real problem with magazine iPad apps

Prior to the launch of the iPad, many magazine publishers hoped that the iPad might do for them what the iPod and iTunes did for digital music: provided a viable marketplace for them to sell their wares. Operative word: sell.

Getting consumers to pay for content has, of course, proven challenging for many magazine publishers. And despite the warm reception the iPad has received from consumers, it hasn't exactly meant overnight success for publishers that have rushed to develop iPad versions of their magazines.

by Patricio Robles 11 October 2010 08:53am 9 comments

Publishers get the short end of the stick with ad-supported content

Despite the fact that many publishers have struggled to transform ad-supported content into profit, many publishers have opted to keep the ad-supported content, and forgo a paywall.

And there's a good reason why: it's entirely unclear to many publishers whether a paywall will be profitable or not, and once a paywall goes up, a publisher's audience will almost certainly drop. For many publishers, ad-supported content and a large audience is still more attractive than paid content and a smaller audience.

by Patricio Robles 22 September 2010 09:22am 1 comment

The Financial Times continues scaling out paid content

Is paid content the online future of the newspaper business? While there's plenty of discussion and debate on the subject, if you listen to enough newspaper executives, you might come away with the impression that they think it has to be.

But while many newspapers contemplate paid content and talk up their plans, The Financial Times has actually been executing a paid content strategy.

by Patricio Robles 07 September 2010 08:43am 3 comments

For news organizations, business development means turning away business

When the New York Times tried to have Apple pull the plug on the hit iPad news reader, Pulse, I noted that as newspapers like the New York Times attempt to 'save' their businesses, it would be wise of them to figure out how they can work with creative third parties. After all, individuals outside of these organizations may be able to do more for them in some areas than they can currently do for themselves.

But if emails between an online publisher who wanted to license content from Dow Jones is any indication, news organizations may be better at talking about getting paid for their content than they are at actually accepting money from businesses that are ready to pay them.

by Patricio Robles 11 June 2010 12:05pm 2 comments