How will website traffic measurement be affected by the introduction of pay walls? Suzanne Bearne considers the impact on UK newspaper websites audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic (ABCe).
The system uses digital edition software PageSuite and interestingly enough charges the same price for the e-edition online as the print edition of a title.
“That runs counter to the conventional wisdom that reader expectations and the lower distribution costs of the internet mean online charging should represent a hefty discount on the price of the print product,” notes Chris Tryhorn.
Amongst the trial papers, 350-400 paying online readers signed up on the Tavistock Times’ site, compared with a circulation of 14,000, reports Tryhorn.
Against conventional wisdom, deceptively simple, but perhaps more in line with what readers are willing to pay for when it comes to local news?
Publishers using restricted access systems will be able to prevent Google News users looking at more than five pages of content a day without registration or subscription.
In the post, Google said:
“We’re happy to see that a number of publishers are already using First Click Free [a system allowing very first article view by a Google News user] we’ve found that some who might try it are worried about people abusing the spirit of First Click Free to access almost all of their content.
“As most users are generally happy to be able to access just a few pages from these premium content providers, we’ve decided to allow publishers to limit the number of accesses under the First Click Free policy to five free accesses per user each day.
“This change applies to both Google News publishers as well as websites indexed in Google’s Web Search. We hope that this encourages even more publishers to open up more content to users around the world!”
Unsurprisingly Les Hinton, CEO of Dow Jones and part of the Murdoch empire, launched an impassioned attack on free content and Google yesterday as part of his speech to the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) conference.
Hinton criticised the promise of the internet (‘the false gospel of the web’) and while describing Google as an everyday wonder, said the search engine is at the heart of the crisis faced by newspapers:
“We were promised that eyeballs meant advertising, clicks meant cash. Free costs too much. News is a business and we should not be afraid to say it,” said Hinton.
“These digital visionaries tell people like me that we just don’t understand them. They talk about the wonders of the interconnected world, about the democratization of journalism. The news, they say, is viral now – that we should be grateful. Well, I think all of us need to beware of geeks bearing gifts.Here we are in 2009 – more viral, less profitable.”
This morning’s Today Programme discusses pay walls with BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones; Emily Bell, director of digital content at the Guardian; and Roger Parry, former chair of Johnston Press.
Johnston Press is – from this morning – to start charging for web access to some of its regional newspapers.
Cellan-Jones says it will be a ‘real test of the appetite of readers to actually pay for what’s online’.
Emily Bell makes the distinction between ‘paid content’ and ‘pay walls’; while she is sceptical about the future success of pay walls, people might be willing to pay for an iPhone app, for example, she says.
Alison Gow brings together two current areas of debate for local media groups: charging for online content and their supposed role in local democracy by scrutinising local authorities in their coverage.
Where the gaps in coverage lie makes for interesting reading, but addition Gow asks:
“Readers may pay to access other services alongside news, but I just don’t see news itself as a big enough lure.
“Also, just to take this argument to the extreme, if newspapers are going to hold themselves up as the moral guardians of what’s right, scrutinising public bodies and holding them to account, is it ethical that they charge for this benevolent service at all?”
HoldTheFrontPage reports it has seen an internal memo indicating that Johnston Press is to introduce a paid-for news model, beginning on some sites from Monday:
“Managers have told staff that JP intends to roll-out the paid-for model across the company in line with what they are calling ‘industry moves in this area to find a sustainable business model going forward.'”
Johnston Press ‘has declined to comment publicly on the plan’ HTFP reports.
Interesting detail from the Wall Street Journal about Vogue’s use of Blue State Digital, the firm behind Barack Obama’s online presidential campaigning strategy.
The company has been taken on by Vogue to help the title analyse its audience as part of a push towards charging for online content on Vogue.com.