March 7, 2012
Experiments with paywalls offer light at end of tunnel
The Wall Street Journal has a good overview of recently efforts by U.S. newspapers to erect paywalls in an effort to shore up revenues. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a clear trend, but at least they’re trying. With ad revenues taking a nosedive, news organizations shouldn’t be shy about experimenting.
Russell Adams reports:
The numbers of readers signing up so far suggest that at many papers, “paywalls” aren’t about to reverse publishers’ deteriorating finances. Yet the results aren’t discouraging industry executives, who say their efforts are succeeding in shoring up the core print business after years of declines.
My feeling is that publishers will not find one simple strategy to turn things around. They need a multi-pronged approach, which means having as many irons in the fire as possible.