Mumbo Report: AFR’s Michael Gill
In this episode of The Mumbo Report, Financial Review Group boss Michael Gill discusses:
- The strategy behind the afr.com.au paywall;
- How it feels to hear your job has been offered to someone else;
- Fairfax Media under new boss Greg Hywood
- His media habits
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Thanks Tim, as ex-employee of one of the ‘abstract’ companies, was very interesting to hear the AFR’s copyright stance straight from the horses mouth.
I still don’t get his logic though as an abstract, be it a straight copy from the opening paragraph or a summary of the content, is still going to incite the interested reader to the paper. And abstract services are targeted to business and government – the exact readership focus for the AFR.
Newspaper readership is on the rise? Rubbish!!
Hilarious.
It all sounds so reasonable doesn’t it?
But you just have to look at the AFR product, and the loss of brand equity and market position since MG has been in charge, to realise that this is a lemming in search of the nearest cliff (Tim, if you think that’s too much, happy for you to moderate it out).
Tim, how come you didn’t ask him about Business Spectator in the context of their decision to ‘secure’ web access? Although I think you should probably moderate Matt, I tend to agree. You let Mr Gill get off pretty lightly…..AFR doesn’t seem to exist online which is a fairly stark problem for Fairfax and frustrating if you’re a reader who wants to use the paper like you would any other major paper online. Your experience btw of trying to subscribe is everyone’s experience. AFR online brand is ‘don’t bother’.
Matt: any evidence?
Jeremy: Tim asked about BS. And you clearly have missed the auto refresh issue.
Actually Jeremy, if the Fin is growing online as fast as they say (and that appears to be backed up by the nielsen data) then self evidently, not everyone’s experience is the same as Tim’s.
And regarding business spectator, the Fin’s model looks like its about to overwhelm the BS model atleast as far as inventories are concerned. The free BizSpec is in steep decline and the paid afr.com is growing. Not sure how Alan and the boys will explain that one away.
Finally Tim a quick correction for you. ,You wrote that story about your experience on afr.com eight months ago not two to three months ago as you suggested in the video, but in fairness you were kind of put on the spot.
I realise its a crime against humanity to defend the Fin so I shall now go and cart myself off to the Hague.
Hi Bob,
You’re right about the timing (doesn’t time fly?). I gather the new system was put in about a year ago, so I think my experience then and now would be about the same nonetheless. But of course a sample size of one means little if the growth continues. Hopefully Fairfax will continue to share the data.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Anon…evidence of brand equity loss?…look at the circulation declines under Mr.Gill and combine with the sense that it’s isn’t the business bible that it used to be, it’s ad revenues are slipping and the online experiment is a long way from being proven. It has lost a lot of its quality journalists….I’d say that was the start of the loss of brand equity
Michael talking about a natural audience of 100,000 is a great piece of spin…
and according to news today both Glen Burge and Michael Gill are no longer with the Fin….
You guys need to get out more. If the Fin Review is still profitable today then Gill’s right. The rest of the world is in the red big time. In the US the biggest single reason for that is the absence of paid readers. So the ad slump and the cost of circulation is killing them. In Europe (aside from UK) paid readers are the main game. In Asia, where news media a growth business, paid readers have always been and remain the business.
Is there any market more nasty than this one for media bitchiness?