Nowhere are the changes in the news distribution model more apparent than in The Times in the UK today.
Across a two-page spread the publisher makes the case for migrating consumers from print to digital. Today’s ad is not the first.
Central to the pitch is that it is about much more than news. It’s about belonging to a club with exclusive benefits and having access to the content you want updated live without the need to wait for the old delivery method to catch up.
Newsagents who wonder about the future of print ought to look at this ad carefully. It is a newspaper publisher making a pitch that is directly competitive to all involved in print newspaper distribution and sales. This is the publisher investing in their future.
If you look at the membership benefits and how they are pitched, the news itself is secondary. What an extraordinary shift!
Newspaper publishers are trying similar offers in Australia but they do not feel as structured and clear in focus as is this offer from The Times.
We must run our newsagency businesses with zero reliance on print newspapers and make the most of them every day we have them.
Click on the image to see the ad in detail.