Since newspapers began, they can controlled access to their stories in print and, later, online. That has served them well, delaying the impact of digital engagement that we see impacting many other industries.
That is changing, and fast.
With more and more news and content aggregation services and an apparent like of bundled subscription services, newspaper publishers are on board and overing lower cost access to some of their content through these platforms. This is a fundamental which in their model.
The story is the thing for many. They will pursue a story or topic as an entry point rather than going to a masthead and reading what it has to offer.
For decades, we’d pick up a paper and read what the publishers served.
Today, thanks to rap[idly evolving mobile tech, we start with what interests us and let that guide where we go.
Online retailers dealing this. Their realise that their brand is irrelevant to shoppers pursuing an interest or product. Look at Google searched, they are far less for department stores than specific items for sale. The same is true for Google searches for news. People search for the topic rather than the masthead.
This is why I think services like Apple News+ are driving seismic change in how, when and where news is accessed and why I think it is today far less abut the masthead than it is about the story.
An interesting shift will come when News+ and similar connect directly with respected journalists, cutting out the middle-man of publishers. We see this already through a range of websites. I expect the pace of change here to pick up.
Where are newsagents in all of this? Nowhere except for some gift cards some of us sell for a micro margin. We partner with publishers for print product product only. For digital, they have different and bigger partners who get them closer to people prepared to pay for their content.
I see no downside in this if we have embraced new traffic opportunities and are bringing people to our shops and websites for other products we sell, products through which we can adjust our focus.