I was surprised to see the Adelaide Advertiser make noise the other day about their online subscription offer. Smart Edition, as it is called, costs $2 for a single copy – less per copy for a longer commitment. News Ltd has offered this for some time for titles like the Herald Sun and The Australian. So, I am not sure what is new about this.
They are using the Newspaper Direct platform. This is used by over 1,000 newspapers.
While I have doubts about the consumer interest in accessing newspapers in this way, newsagents ought to be across this pitch from News and the challenge it presents to our retail channel.
I ended up at the newspaperdirect website via a link from the Aus and was amazed at what was on offer. Hundreds of newspapers, even different editions of the same title on the same day. I’m surprised there’s not more take up by Newsagents of their print on demand service. A niche market, maybe, but another something that identifies the newsagent as a source of worldwide news.