Paper review: News Ltd ‘uncomfortable’ with tweeting hacks; was Best Job robbed of the titanium?; Free papers might count as paid; Two more leave Naked
Today’s media and marketing review will be along in a minute, but in the meantime, can I just say this to Campbell Reid:
Dude, what are you thinking?
In case you’ve missed it, Reid is the group editorial director of News Ltd. And he tells The Australian’s Media section this morning that the company is “very uncomfortable” with its journalists using Twitter rather than telling people the news “through the vehicles they are employed to supply material to”.
It’s the kind of foolish comment a less scrupulous person might later try to claim they hadn’t said, if they hadn’t been quoted in their own newspaper.
I think you will find that “bundled sales” will be reported as a “break-out” of paid sales. That is, while they are included in the gross paid sales, any “bundled sales” must be also separately reported. As long as there is a “cost to consumer” involved – whether it is 1 cent or the full cover-price then it is technically a sale. Obviously, selling at 1 cent is unsustainable in the long-term and this tactic will be used to try to promote trial and future sales, with the media agencies knowing exactly how much bundling has been happening.