The future of print journalism is uncertain.
Subscription
numbers for newspapers are declining nationwide as more people turn to
the internet to get their news. The equipment used to create newspapers,
the large, loud and bulky printing press is a dinosaur in technological
terms.
Meanwhile online news has evolved into
a brand new, streamlined beast with no fixed deadlines, the capacity
for video, photo galleries and live streaming. And most importantly it's
free – for now at least.
So logically then
print organisations such as Fairfax, APN and other independent
newspapers are considering ways to bolster to their traditional revenue
streams. Advertising revenues for newspapers, the industry's biggest
earner, have been declining according to Advertising Standards Authority
figures. Data from 2005 to 2012 shows a general decline in ad spend
from $830 million to $540m last year, while ad spend in the interactive
market – which includes online video, search engine listings and mobile
advertising – has risen in the same time period from $44m to $366m.
The
pay wall model has become a possible lifeline for the newspaper
industry. It's a business model in which people pay a fee or
subscription to a newspaper's website to access their content. A couple
of smaller independent newspapers in New Zealand, the Ashburton Guardian and the Whakatane Beacon, as well as The Listener and National Business Review have already introduced pay walls on their websites. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
in Melbourne, both owned by Fairfax Australia, introduced pay walls in
the past few months for overseas readers, requiring them to pay $15 per
month for unlimited access to their content.
The country's largest print news organisations Fairfax New Zealand – which owns stuff.co.nz, The Dominion Post and The Press – and APN – which owns The New Zealand Herald – have both said they are considering implementing pay walls, but the finer details are yet to be fleshed out.
So can pay walls work?
According to Whakatane Beacon managing editor Mark Longley the answer is yes, in some cases. The Beacon introduced its pay wall in February, which coincided with launch of its new website.
"We
thought it would be easier if we ask people to pay for it, then give it
away free if that concept didn't work. As a business model, giving the
stuff we're asking people to pay for in the paper away for free is
unsustainable."
Current newspaper subscribers
have access to the website for free and online subscribers pay a flat
fee of $149 per year or $14.99 per month. Along with the online
subscription they can also pay a bit more to have a Saturday paper
delivered to their house.
Mr Longley says the
response to the pay wall was better than expected, and many who have
taken up the online subscription are based overseas. The company had set
a target for digital-only subscribers for the first 12 months of the
website launch which was met in a week.
"We
thought in the first week we might get one or two digital subscriptions
and I think we got 100, mainly from Kiwis overseas. Kiwis are incredibly
parochial and they love reading about the town they came from, and they
have a deep connection with where they came from."
Most
were happy to pay the subscription fee, he said. However, at the start
there was some push-back from readers outside New Zealand.
"We
did get some negative responses. People from Australia were emailing in
saying, 'Why do we have to pay for this? Everything on the web should
be free,' and I very politely pointed out to them that why should we
expect them to have it for free and we expect our loyal Eastern Bays
readers to pay for their news? Not many of them emailed back after that
logic."
The pay wall system works better for
smaller publications rather than larger media organisations, says Mr
Longley. It would take "a lot of guts" for the likes of Fairfax and APN
to go behind a pay wall.
"If you want to read
about Eastern Bay news you've got to go to the Beacon, unless the story
gets picked up nationally. I think being a niche publisher or publishing
in a restricted area gives you the ability to charge for it.
"I
think its going to be a challenge for whoever goes behind a pay wall,
but at the same time I can't see how newspapers can continue giving away
their product for free [online] and expect people to pay for [the print
edition]."
Ashburton Guardian editor Coen Lammers agrees. He says the decision to put the Guardian behind a pay wall in November was a matter of when and how to implement it, rather than if they should.
"Because we had a very basic website which had no advertising and very little audience, we had nothing to lose."
"If you compare it to stuff.co.nz or with the New Zealand Herald
website, which have millions of hits every week, they've got a lot to
lose. They have a problem that they have to convince their readers that
they've been getting it for free for years and, 'Sorry, now you've got
to pay for it.' That's obviously a massive quandary for people in charge
there."
The NBR and other financial
newspapers which have pay walls prove that if publications offer unique
content people will pay for it. But larger news organisations which have
similar content to other news providers will find it "pretty hard" to
charge for something people can get elsewhere for free.
"We're
the only daily newspaper who covers every aspect of the district, so if
you want to know about Ashburton [readers have] got to come to us,"
says Mr Lammers. "So people have no choice really. If they value our
journalism they'll pay or it either in print version or an online
version."
The revamped Guardian website
was very community focused and provided extra content, including photo
galleries and videos and also community news from local clubs, and
turned the site into a "one-stop shop" for anything to do with
Ashburton, he says.
Advertisers had shown confidence in the pay wall model and were advertising on the site, and the Guardian was the only daily paper which increased its circulation numbers in the last quarter of 2012.
Pay walls are nothing new in the overseas markets. The Wall Street Journal has been behind a pay wall since 1997 and was the first major newspaper to implement one.
The New York Times,
which introduced its pay wall two years ago, allows readers access to
10 stories per month before being asked to pay. Online subscriptions
currently cost between US$195 and US$455 per year, but print subscribers
have access to the website content for free. The newspaper's latest
digital subscription figures as at March 31, 2013 was 676,000, 5.6
percent higher than the previous quarter, but 49 percent higher than the
same quarter last year.
NZ Advertising Industry Turnover year ended December:
Newspapers:
- 2003 $689m (37.103pc of total ad spend)
- 2004 $790m (38.1pc)
- 2005 $830m (37.2pc)
- 2006 $810m (36.4pc)
- 2007 $826m (35.4pc)
- 2008 $760m (32.8pc)
- 2009 $623m (30.5pc)
- 2010 $627m (29.3pc)
- 2011 $582m (26.7pc)
- 2012 $540m (24.9pc)
Interactive:
- 2003 $8m (0.4pc)
- 2004 $15m (0.7pc)
- 2005 $44m (2pc)
- 2006 $65m (2.9pc)
- 2007 $135m (5.8pc)
- 2008 $193m (8.3pc)
- 2009 $214m (10.5pc)
- 2010 $257m (12pc)
- 2011 $328m (15.1pc)
- 2012 $366m (16.9pc)
(Source: Advertising Standards Authority)
Read more:
http://www.3news.co.nz/A-peek-over-the-pay-wall/tabid/421/articleID/299432/Default.aspx#ixzz2UqiOQOPF
