Comments on: Readers Hit New York Newsday Paywall Then Turn Around and Walk Away

By: Exploring new experiments in journalism: Newsday paywall fails, while Spot.us lets readers decide what news to pay for « Communication

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:45:13 +0000

[...] beyond a select few publications is questionable. As The New York Observer and countless other blogs have reported, Newsday has hit another rough patch, trying to get people to subscribe with added [...]

By: Internet Pro News » Blog Archive » Users Leave Newsday After Being Hit With A Paywall

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:23:05 +0000

[...] Comments [...]

By: Institutions Need to Nurture Modest Gains in Trust | NST Blog – News and Smart Talk for Nuffer, Smith, Tucker Inc.

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:58:14 +0000

[...] ones will make drastic changes in their business model – and that’s not figuring whether a paywall for online content makes sense. It’s about delivering upon expectations. Right now, according [...]

By: Tim Bourquin - MemberCon.com

Tim Bourquin - MemberCon.com — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:49:02 +0000

That’s got to be a marketing issue. With an audience as big as theirs, I could talk 35 of them into doing something in a snap.

Sure, newspapers that charge now have an uphill battle if they’ve been free the whole time, but an expert at internet marketing could certainly improve their results.

And Andrew, if you “never pay” you’re not in the target audience anyway so they won’t waste their time trying to convince you.
.-= Tim Bourquin – MemberCon.com´s last blog ..Double Opt-in vs. Single Opt-in Email Marketing =-.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:50:15 +0000

I never pay when I hit the wall and I do not know anyone who does. Seems kind of pointless too when you can apply a little more effort to searching and find free article that is essentially the same.

By: MikeTek

MikeTek — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:18:02 +0000

This missing piece here is how much Time Warner is giving them for the licensing deal.

But even so, it don’t look good.

When Tribune sold Newsday to the Dolans early last year and they had the website rebuilt I knew it was bad. The usability of the new website is terrible – I mean absolutely terrible.

I don’t think it’s going to turn the NY Times from their course. They justify their approach here: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/talk-to-the-times-ans wers-about-charging-online/

While they may have the technical side figured out – how to let search crawlers in while metering and, eventually, throwing up a paywall on everyone else – the whole idea just smells bad.

Of course, we don’t have the analytics data they do – if they find that 90% of search-referred visitors don’t come back for 4-5 months, it gives you a good idea of where the meter could start. There may be a sweet spot there.

In short, I think Newsday made a few more mistakes than just the paywall – but I don’t think their version of the paywall has helped. I expect smarter moves from the Times, but we’ll have to see what develops.
.-= MikeTek´s last blog ..Introducing: The Blogger’s Guide to Google Analytics =-.

By: Garry Przyklenk

Garry Przyklenk — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:14:34 +0000

Knowing the media companies, they may go bankrupt before realizing the errors of their ways. If they do react to public opinion through analytics, there might be hope for them yet.

Garry
.-= Garry Przyklenk´s last blog ..A story about a hand cart =-.