WEEKLY NEWS ROUNDUP
1. 180-year old Irish Examiner introduces subscription service for digital content – The Irish Times
The publication, which is owned by The Irish Times Group, said the move followed investment in content, resources and new technology over the past 18 months.
“Over the last 18 months, the Irish Examiner has invested significantly in content, resources and in technology to support digital subscriptions.”
2. Medium had 700,000 paid subscribers at the start of the year – but is now pivoting – The Verge
Publishing platform Medium has announced a pivot, which will cost dozens of journalists their jobs, eventhough the platform had 700,000 paid subscribers at the start of the year and was on track for more than $35 million in revenue, according to The Verge.
“We have published many stellar stories that found a wide audience and more than paid for themselves. But our hit rate has been low, and we’re not near where we need to be to make it work economically.”
3. In a move to boost digital subscription numbers, News Corp will buy Investor’s Business Daily for $275 million – Wall Street Journal
New Corp’s Dow Jones unit — which publishes The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires — will operate the publisher.
“IBD has nearly 100,000 digital subscribers across its platforms, and that digital represents more than 90% of IBD’s revenue and subscriptions.”
4. 2 million Nordic households subscribe to a digital newspaper – Mediavision
2 million Nordic households subscribe to a digital news magazine according to Mediavision’s analysis. This can be compared with 2.4 million households having a print subscription. The highest digital subscription rate is in Norway with 30 percent.
“We can expect more initiatives from the media houses to further accelerate the digitalization of the newspaper industry. Likely, the tipping point is close for the traditional “paper” subscription as the cost of paper, printing and distribution simply makes subscription costs too high for most households.”
WEEKLY ANALYSIS ROUNDUP
1. Audiences behind the paywall: News navigation among established versus newly added subscribers – Digital Journalism
Readers with a paid subscription show a higher degree of activity, greater involvement, and more varied usage than do newly added readers with a free subscription, according to research published in Digital Journalism.
“Young subscribers with short-term accounts show the lowest degree of activity, independent of the measurement used.”
2. In France, an investigative journalism startup beats the odds – TheFix
The French digital news startup Mediapart launched their investigative journalism site in 2008. In 2020, its model of independent journalism financed by digital subscriptions without advertising has triumphed and the number of subscriptions have reached over 200,000, notes TheFix
“Also, by adopting a digital-only model of production and distribution, its costs were much lower, and it could adapt quickly over the years to changing distribution and consumption technologies, such as social media and smartphones.”
3. Study: What news publishers do to retain subscribers – American Press Institute
The American Press Institute has surveyed news publishers across the U.S. to identify nine key strategies for retaining subscribers – including such operations as onboarding new subscribers well, studying subscriber behavior, and testing price options.
“The study finds some differences in retention strategies among different types of publishers. In other ways, though, they have similarities or shared challenges.”
