A blog on issues affecting Australia's newsagents, media and small business generally. More ...

Newspaper publishers fail to leverage the interest in stories with their paywall strategy

I get that publishers need to monetise content to pay for more content. I am happy to pay. If I like a song, I buy it. If I want to see an episode of a TV show, I buy it. However, I can’t buy a news story.

The paywall approach by news publishers is out of date. It was created for a time long gone. Today, stories matter far more than a masthead package.

Take this Herald Sun exclusive story from today. They want me to sign up to a subscription. The cost outweighs the benefit I see in accessing the story. So, I will wait to find out more about the story.

If, on the other hand, I could buy this story for a micro payment, they’d get me and, for sure, I’d probably join a micro payments service where I could nominate the types of stories I like and agree on rules for being served these single stories.

The price for a story could depend on the story itself, in a way similar to how some entertainment content is priced online.

Their demand that I sign up for an old-school subscription is so yesterday. It’s what they did when news on paper delivered to your door was a booming business. It is out of touch with today.

How, when, where and what we consume through subscription has changed. News publishers need to change to reflect this.

26 likes
Media disruption

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Reload Image