APN on the hows and whys of its new paywall strategy
Yesterday APN News & Media announced it was setting up paywalls on its regional media websites. Director of sales, products and technology of Australian Regional Media Clayton Cooke spoke to Nic Christensen about the thinking behind the strategy and whether regional news media can get consumers to pay for content.
We’ve seen News Corp and Fairfax Media struggle to get their digital subscriptions above a certain level. Are you worried about resistance among regional readers when it comes to paywalls?
You always have to manage the community response to it. One of the things I think some companies have done really well is to communicate in terms of why they are doing it.
These are pretty much community newspapers now. Not sure why anyone would be willing to fork out money. I certainly know I wouldn’t for the Sunshine Coast Daily.
I am surprised there has been little discussion of micro payments for pay walls in this market
For me the biggest challenge is paying lump sums for things the consumer feels they can get for equal quality and no cost else where
Micro payments ensure that you will be getting paid for your unique content
Technically there may be a bigger challenge in set up but the potential for long term benefit is strong.
I would be interested to see if anyone has data around micro payments vs monthly or annual subs
As Jack says though – paying for community news is a stretch
We need a “spotify” for news.
I’m more than happy to pay for my news fix. But gone are the days where I sit on a single news site as my only source of news.