by Jack Loechner, Today, 8:15 AM
American Press Institute, with ITZ Publishing and Belden Interactive, recently published initial results of a study designed to help Newspaper executives understand the current peer practices in generating revenue from digital content, the various pay models, success levels, and approaches to issues like site registration, electronic editions and tracking original content across the Web.
Among the preliminary findings, nearly 60% of respondents are considering initiating paid access for currently open/free news and information online, and nearly 25% expect to implement a paid strategy in the next six months. This is a big change, says the report, considering that 90% of the responding newspapers currently do not charge for content, and only 3% currently have a paid-only site.
Capturing new revenue and preserving print are likely the key drivers of any final decision to adopt a paid-content strategy. 34% of respondents think capturing new revenue opportunities is or will be the most important factor, while 28% think it is or will be preserving print circulation.
| Key Drivers Of Decision Making by News Providers | |
| Driver | % of Respondents |
| Capturing new revenue opportunities |
34% |
| Establishing value for copyrighted content |
18% |
| Preserving print circulation |
28% |
| Driving product development/new revenues |
13% |
| Replacing lost display ad revenues |
4% |
| Replacing lost classified revenues |
0 % |
| Don’t know |
3% |
| Other |
2% |
| Source: American Press Institute, November 2009 | |
Most of the respondents overlook the opportunities and discount the convenience of e-editions, which give users the experience of reading a newspaper online. Most are not charging for e-editions or are not charging enough:
- Only 67% offer an electronic edition of the paper on their Web sites
- 59% of those offer it free to their print subscribers
- The median price for an online-only subscription is $5.99 a month.
- The median up-charge price, for those who offer it to print subscribers, is $4.99 a month
Current prices for online subscriptions strongly suggest that “convenience” pricing is generally in play, not tied to rigorous price analysis or research into what people are willing to pay. Respondents report a wide range of online subscription charges (from $1 to $27.50 a month), yet they report surprisingly uniform levels of uptake on subscriptions, typically 1% to 3% of print circulation, regardless of price.
While most of the respondents allow users to register for their sites, few require it and even fewer are monetizing registration in any way.
- Only 27% require users to register
- 23% have a specific program for monetizing registration information in active use
- 36% of respondents indicate they are considering a registration program
| Web Site Registration Programs | |
| Program | % of Respondents |
| Allows registration |
71% |
| Requires registration |
27% |
| Considering registration |
23% |
| Monetizing registration |
36% |
| Source: American Press Institute, November 2009 | |
The report points out that there is a potentially deep disconnect between news organizations (The Provider) and the audience (The Reader) for their Web sites. Industry executives’ responses are compared with user responses aggregated from Belden Interactive 2009 Local Market Surveys. While 54% of news executives rate their online news and information as “very valuable,” only 44% of news Web site users see it that way.
| Value of Online News and Information (% of Respondents) | ||
| Provider Perception | Reader Perception | |
| Very valuable |
54% |
44% |
| Somewhat valuable |
39% |
51% |
| Not very valuable |
1% |
3% |
| Not at all valuable |
1% |
1% |
| Don’t know |
6% |
1% |
| Source: American Press Institute, November 2009 | ||
Only 9% of news executives think it would be “very easy” for their audience to find a replacement for the online content their news Web sites are currently providing, compared with 19% of users.
| Degree of Difficulty to Replace Online Content From Site Currently Provided (% of Respondents) | ||
| Difficulty | Provider Perception | Reader Perception |
| Very easy |
9% |
19% |
| Somewhat easy |
22% |
33% |
| Not very easy |
34% |
28% |
| Not very easy at all |
34% |
15% |
| Don’t know | 2% | 5% |
| Source: American Press Institute, November 2009 | ||
The audience that gets its local news and information online would focus on the Internet and TV, not print, if their local newspaper Web site were no longer available. 68% of users say they would turn to other local Internet sites, 45% would turn to television, only 30% would turn to the print edition of the paper, while 75% of news executives think users would turn to their print editions.
| Alternative Likely to be Selected if Local Newspaper Web Site No Longer Available (% of Respondents) | ||
| News Provider | Provider Perception | Reader Perception |
| Your print newspaper |
75% |
30% |
| Other local media sites |
55% |
17% |
| Television |
53% |
45% |
| Other local Web sites |
48% |
68% |
| Radio |
46% |
35% |
| Regional/National sites |
42% |
37% |
| Other newspaper |
31% |
12% |
| Other |
4% |
5% |
| Don’t know |
3% |
2% |
| Source: American Press Institute, November 2009 | ||
The report concludes with key variables to be analyzed by news organizations contemplating a conversion to online paid content, or any other revenue opportunities.
To read the variables and recommendations, and for additional details about the study in PDF format, please visit the American Press Institute here.
