Tag Archives: Forbes

Forbes: Times and NY Times paywall figures compared

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Forbes reports on encouraging subscriber stats for the New York Times, the second set of figures released since it went behind a porous paywall in March.

Since then, the paper has amassed some 224,000 digital-only subscribers. Another 57,000 subscribe to replica editions delivered on e-readers like the Kindle and the Nook. On top of that, there are the 100,000 people getting e-subscriptions sponsored by Lincoln.

Jeff Bercovici goes on to compare the NY Times with the Times.

The Times of London launched its own, very different pay model about nine months before the [New York] Times. (Briefly: the Times [of London] has an impermeable paywall, while the New York Times uses a metered system that allows non-subscribers 20 free pageviews a month.) It only recently hit the 100,000 mark. The Times of London is smaller, but not all that much so: it has a weekday circulation of about 500,000 and a Sunday circulation of 1.2 million, versus 900,000 and 1.3 million for the [New York] Times.

Importantly, the [New York] Times managed to add a new leg to its business without significantly cannibalising its existing web audience. [The site] averaged 33 million unique visitors per month in the second quarter, in line with its average for the preceding 11 months, said CEO Janet Robinson on a call with analysts.

Forbes’ full post goes on to explain the challenges facing the New York Times.

Forbes: Facebook is getting into the news business

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Forbes is reporting that Facebook is working with a handful of major news organisations to create Facebook editions of their sites. Google is also working on similar plans, Jeff Bercovici reports.

The idea is just one of the ways Facebook is trying to encourage users to spend time within its virtual walls to position itself against the growing popularity of new social network Google+.

One answer it has come up with: asking a select number of news outlets to produce “Facebook editions” — basically, app versions of themselves that can be read and consumed right there on Facebook.

About a dozen news outlets are currently participating, including CNN, the Washington Post and the Daily, according to sources familiar with the project. The first Facebook editions are expected to arrive later this year, perhaps in September.

The New York Times was also asked to participate, according to one source, but opted to hold back for now, apparently because of reservations over how having a Facebook edition might fit into its new paywall strategy. (It’s for similar reasons that the Times isn’t even giving all of its content to the digital news aggregation service Ongo even though it’s a financial partner in the startup.)

The full post is at this link

Mobile plans for London Evening Standard announced at Mobile World Congress

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The Standard will launch an application for smartphones later this month, an announcement by developers Handmark to coincide with this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

According to the launch release, “content within the London Evening Standard mobile application will be refreshed automatically and available for offline reading”.

Handmark’s mobile publishing platform has already been used by Thomson Reuters, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal.

There are no details about the cost of the app – the Standard’s print edition went free in October.

Forbes.com opinion channel gets a makeover

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Forbes.com/opinions has had a makeover, as of today. Under the control of new opinions channel editor, Tunku Varadarajan, no time has been wasted in having a bit of an autumn clean. Particularly significant is the introduction of an array of high-profile new columnists.

Here’s a run-down of the changes:

  • Four main topic categories: Business and Economics, Foreign Affairs and Defence, Culture and Society, and Politics.
  • 16 new columnists will be writing weekly columns for the channel, including author Reihan Salam, economists Brian Wesbury and Bob Stein, former Reagan speechwriter Peter Robinson and Quentin Letts (from the UK).
  • Book reviews every Monday and Thursday, on all subjects, as well as daily essays and commentaries.
  • Forbes.com Editor Paul Maidment’s will produce a weekly video “Notes on the News” about international politics and business.
  • Forbes magazine Publisher Rich Karlgaards’s daily blog “Digital Rules” will still run, in addition to a new video blog “Talk Back” about the business world.

Varadarajan was previously contributing editor at the Financial Times, where he wrote opinion pieces, arts and culture essays and book reviews. Before that, he was at the Wall Street Journal for seven years – most recently as Assistant Managing Editor.

He gives fuller run-down of all the changes here.

Forbes: AP wants a button on iPhone home screen

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The Associated Press wants to grab itself a prime piece of technological real estate, it announced last week that it wants an AP button on the iPhone start-up page for quick access to news.

“There was a button for stocks, there was a button for weather, but there was no button for news,” says Jeffrey Litvack, director of global product development with the AP.

According to Forbes, the AP wants to be the organisation to run any ‘news’ button.

The AP launched its Mobile News Network last week.

Litvack says it can distribute stories from AP reporters and over 100 papers in a single service. He’s hoping its perfect for the iPhone and that Apple is listening.