Below are a series of articles and reports created since early 2009 to help frame the discussion about paid content and inform NAA members as they consider pay wall strategies.
For links to other articles on paid content, click here.
Paid Content Case Studies
To understand the impact of paid content strategies, NAA looked at four newspapers from two companies – Freedom and Dow Jones Local Media – that have launched pay walls in the last year. These case studies track the impact of those strategies from each newspaper.
Freedom Case Studies
Presentation from mediaXchange
Dow Jones Local Media Case Studies
Presentation from mediaXchange
Financial Scenarios for Paid Content Sites
In partnership with the Newspaper Association of America, Mignon Media has released a spreadsheet exploring the financial impact of various newspaper paid-content scenarios. The scenarios range from an entirely free newspaper Web site to an entirely paid newspaper Web site, and the spreadsheet assesses the impact on online ad revenue, subscriber revenue and more.
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The Free v. Paid Online Content Debate
In March, 2009, as the “paid vs. free” debate began heating up, NAA examined the pros and cons of charging for content online. This report provides perspectives from a variety of companies that have charged for content or were exploring that strategy.
Download the report.
Financial Scenarios for Paid Content Sites
In partnership with the Newspaper Association of America, Mignon Media has released a spreadsheet exploring the financial impact of various newspaper paid-content scenarios. The scenarios range from an entirely free newspaper Web site to an entirely paid newspaper Web site, and the spreadsheet assesses the impact on online ad revenue, subscriber revenue and more.
Continue reading...
Platforms for Monetizing Digital Content
In June 2009, industry leaders asked NAA to profile a variety of companies offering a “paid content” solution and communicate back to the industry the various models and capabilities of those companies. NAA, in July, distributed a “Request for Information” to a range of companies asking for details about their platforms and business.
This report summarizes the RFI responses and provides links to documentation provided by each of the companies. Companies profiled in this report include those that have mapped out a specific solution for publishers as well as technology companies that have various tools and platforms that could be used to create a solution.
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Traffic Drops, Then Rebounds When Sites Launch Payment Systems
Expect your Web site traffic to drop when your newspaper site first puts up a pay wall, according to the experiences of several newspaper executives. Fortunately, a good portion of the traffic will return to the site eventually, and much of the returning traffic may be from local readers.
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Zero-Sum Games: Framing the Debate
The debate over charging for online content is a hot-button issue for newspapers today. Why? Both sides feel that they are not being heard.
Many on the pro-pay wall side of the debate say one of the great mistakes the newspaper industry has made has been listening to consultants advising that “information wants to be free,” and that this has led them down the path to where there is no longer a sustainable business model.
Those on the con side of the debate feel they have been telling the newspaper industry for years that there has to be a fundamental change in the way newspapers do business. Whether or not there is a pay wall, there has to be a change in information distribution mechanisms and a diversification of revenue beyond selling ad impressions.
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Corporate Calculus: Weighing the Factors, Running the Numbers
When newspaper executives consider the paid content debate, the most important factors they weigh up are how it will affect Web traffic and if they can persuade people to pay for access to their information.
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Free Content Advocates Focus on Growth Potential
The U.S. newspapers, such as the Tulsa World and the Cedar Rapids Gazette, that have tested a paid online news model, only to later remove the pay wall in favor of free content, have done so because they thought keeping up the pay wall was ultimately inhibiting online revenue and traffic growth.
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Paid Model Advocates Stress Value of Content
Ask newspaper executives whose Web sites charge for access to information why they’ve chosen a paid model, and you’ll get a laundry list of reasons -- all topped by the belief that newspaper content is too valuable to give away.
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NAA Webinars
The Newspaper Association of America hosted two Webinars on paid content. The first, "Newspapers' Online Revenue: Scenarios for Online-Only Operations," focused on financial projections and revenue advice for online paid content. The second, "The Online Paid Content Debate: Newspaper Execs Share Their Experience," included results of paid content experiments at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Cedar Rapids Gazette.