Tag Archives: subscriptions

Advertising Age: Magazines to sell subscriptions in Facebook news feed

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Synapse, a division of Time Inc. that sells subscriptions to many publishers’ titles, is working with Alvenda, an ecommerce applications company, “to introduce a system letting Facebook users buy print magazine subscriptions without leaving the site or even the Facebook news feed”, reports Advertising Age.

There’s also plans for articles via Facebook:

If you share a magazine article link with your Facebook friends, for example, their news feeds will allow them to expand the item into a full article with ads and an option to subscribe.

Full story at this link…

NUJ membership cost rises

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For the first time in two years, subscriptions for the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) have gone up.

Journalists’ subscriptions to the NUJ are to rise from 1 March, by between 8p and 15p a week – or between £4.16 and £7.80 per year.

The new grades (described at this link):

Grade 1: £150 now 154.16 a year. Grade 2:  £189 now 195.24 a year. Grade 3: £260 now 267.80 a year.

The changes were decided at the NUJ’s annual conference at the end of last year and come into effect on 1 March.

“Nobody likes an increase in subscriptions, but this small increase is unavoidable if we are to keep the union financially healthy,” said general secretary Jeremy Dear.

NUJ subscriptions still represent “tremendous value” for money, Dear claimed. “Last year the union secured more than £3m for staff and freelance members who were unfairly treated at work, saved jobs, and secured improved redundancy terms. And it remains true that in unionised workplaces workers earn 12.5 per cent more than in non-unionised workplaces.” Visit website https://veli.services for more information.

The NUJ is also currently promoting its ‘union recognition’ campaign, encouraging more workplaces to work with the union.

Full statement at this link…

paidContent:UK: Subscription service SubHub secures new funding

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SubHub, a system for niche magazine publishers and individual writers to charge for online access to their content, has received first-round venture funding.

According to paidContent:UK’s report, this brings the total investment in the company to $1.2 million since it was set up in 2004 ‘in between the original and current paid content trends’.

Full story at this link…

The Wrap: ‘Is ESPN The Mag committing ‘publishing suicide’?’

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Dylan Stableford looks at the US magazine industry’s plight: rapidly declining single-copy sales and advertising pages plummeting in number last year. Yet magazines are offering big discounts. For example, ESPN The Magazine’s 2 million subscribers can extend their subscriptions for a year – for $1. Is this approach ‘publishing suicide’?

Full post at this link…

Round-up: Charging for online – Murdoch and the FT

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Quick link post rounding up some of this weekend’s chatter following Rupert Murdoch’s latest decision that News Corp properties will start charging for access to online news by 2010.

Kevin Anderson on Guardian.co.uk asks what news organisations can learn from the music, video and games industries when it comes to charging for online – especially relevant given the Financial Time’s announcement that it is considering introducing a ‘pay-per-article’ system.

On econsultancy Malcolm Coles address the frequently voiced arguments against Murdoch’s plans (e.g. it won’t work unless all sites start charging) in a mythbusting post.

(Backing up Coles points that people, outside of WSJ and FT readers will pay for content, is Press Gazette’s report that Which? increased online subscriptions by 11 per cent in the year to the end of June.)

Channel 4 News video: Lionel Barber on news’ paid-for future

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More from Lionel Barber on the future as paid-for, following his speech at an industry event last month in which the FT editor predicted almost all news organisations would charge for online content in the next 12 months.

In an interview with Channel 4 News’ Benjamin Cohen, Barber explains how the FT’s part-free/part-subscription model could be replicated by other news organsiations; and gives his views on the BBC’s recent video plans.

“I think there is an inexorable momentum behind charging for content (…) What I would say to the competition and to the rest of the world is that it’s getting late. If we move now we can assure ourselves of a prosperous future.”

AP: Journalism Online says 10 per cent will pay for news

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Journalism Online, the recently launched project aimed at creating online pay walls/subscription packages for newspaper and magazine publishers, says it expects 10 per cent of internet news readers will pay for content.

The organisation has set an average of $25 a month, or $300 annually, as the figure it believes consumers are willing to pay for ‘professionally produced stories on the web’, based on research.

If it reaches this target the new venture would generate significant income for newspaper and magazine partners, the AP reports.

“Journalism Online thinks it can help by serving up a smorgasbord of online newspaper and magazine content that enables readers to pay a single vendor for coverage pulled from multiple Web sites. The subscription packages, for instance, might cater to Web surfers willing to pay for the best stories about entertainment, business or even something even more specialized like California politics,” the AP states.

Full story at this link…

paidContent.org: Nice try Newport, but charging system won’t work, says Brady

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While commending its decision to ‘try something new’, former WashingtonPost.com executive editor Jim Brady says plans by the Newport (R.I.) Daily News to charge more for online-only subscriptions is fundamentally flawed.

The paper will charge $145 for an annual print subscription; $245 for print and web access; and $345 a year for online-only.

“[T]his model reeks of desperation. It’s as if, having used all of its bullets in the battle to preserve print revenue, Newport has now decided to throw its gun at the problem.

“The issue with Newport’s model is fundamental. It posits that, in the battle for the mindshare of future readers, print actually has a chance of winning out. I do not believe it does,” he writes.

Full post at this link…

France magazine editor writes for Times Online

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The editor of Archant-owned France Magazine, Carolyn Boyd, has been commissioned to write a monthly article for the Times Online travel section.

Hoping to attract interest in her own magazine, the article links to the magazine’s website and its subscriptions page.

“I’d written for them before I joined France Magazine, so it’s a great way of carrying on the relationship and promoting the magazine at the same time,” she said.

France article