Why News Corp’s regional and local paywalls are holding strong
It’s been seven years since News Corp owned mastheads began rolling out subscriptions. Now, local and regional titles are behind a freemium paywall. Mumbrella’s Zoe Samios asks News Corp’s Damian Eales why the model is working.
The arrival of a local newspaper at my doorstep always feels nostalgic. My first memories of receiving a weekly title involved cutting clippings out and pasting them into my primary school workbook in an attempt to show my teachers what was going on in my community.
But there was one consistent thing about the papers, no matter where I lived in Sydney: they were free.
News Corp’s Eales argues the paywalled formula which has worked internationally can work in a ‘hyper-local’ way
News Corp has long been an advocate for online subscription and reader revenue models. It kicked off with The Australian’s paywall in 2011, before expanding to the Herald Sun in 2012 and the company’s metro titles in 2013. But in the last year it has been rolling out paywalls across its regional titles too.
An increased propensity to pay for scarce quality local content?
Pull the other one, it’s got bells on!