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May 4th, 2010 by Wadds

ABC Multi-Platform March report: paywalls are coming; bulks out

The ABC Multi-Platform numbers are in for March and continue the narrative of a declining print media. But that’s not the whole story.

Print is down year-on-year. All the broadsheets, with the exception of The Financial Times (-6.41 per cent) report double digit percentage falls year-on-year. But the decline is due at least in part to newspapers stripping out bulk distribution (deals where papers are distributed free to customers at outlets such as airlines and hotels).

Here’s Roy Greenslade writing in the Guardian:

“Are there reasons to be cheerful about another set of newspaper circulation statistics that, at face value, look as depressing as ever? Well, one definite plus is that the figures are getting “cleaner” by the month. The gradual retreat by several titles from the use of bulk sales is one of the major causes of apparently bad year-on-year falls.”

News International has pulled its online titles (thesun.co.uk and thetimes.co.uk) from the scrutiny of the auditor ahead of the launch of thetimes.co.uk paywall in June.

MailOnline pursuing its celebrity-Google-baiting agenda is the fastest growing online property, and largest by audience, followed by guardian.co.uk.

Here’s the detail.

Daily Av.
March ’10
_
Daily Av.
March ’09
_
Year/Year
[%]
_
The Times 502,436 600,210 -16.29
The Guardian 283,063 340,952 -16.98
The Independent 184,137 205,308 -10.31
The Daily Telegraph 686,679 764,748 -10.21
The People 532,140 580,815 -8.38
Daily Express 668,273 725,841 -7.93
Financial Times 401,286 428,766 -6.41
Daily Mirror 1,247,013 1,340,131 -6.95
News of the World 2,904,566 3,016,329 -3.71
Daily Mail 2,082,352 2,146,783 -3.00
The Sun 3,005,308 3,068,035 -2.04
Daily Star 827,005 819,880 0.87

Table: National newspapers – print

_

Daily Av.
March ’10
_
Daily Av.
March ’09
_
Year/Year
[%]
_
MailOnline 2,246,746 1,383,205 62.43
guardian.co.uk 1,852,293 1,322,314 40.08
Mirror Group Digital 467,711 346,299 35.06
Telegraph 1,557,118 1,398,106 11.37
FT.com N/A 626,385
Times Online N/A 1,152,223
The Sun N/A 1,229,518

Table 2: National newspapers – online

_

Daily Av.
March ’10
_
Daily Av.
March ’09
_
Year/Year
[%]
_
The Observer 331,488 431,017 -23.09
The Sunday Telegraph 509,754 577,886 -11.79
Sunday Express 570,040 636,153 -10.39
The Sunday Times 1,111,660 1,240,348 -10.38
Independent on Sunday 154,285 167,763 -8.03
Sunday Post 337,052 361,371 -6.73
Sunday Mirror 1,147,272 1,228,927 -6.64
Daily Star Sunday 341,824 362,076 -5.59
The Mail on Sunday 1,952,697 1,997,060 -2.22

Table 3: Sunday newspapers – print

March 28th, 2010 by Wadds

How do you make money from online news content?

We’ve seemingly spent the past six-months obsessing about online business models for traditional media. That was the view of Emily Bell, the Guardian’s director of digital content, speaking at The Guardian’s Changing Media Conference two weeks ago. She’s spot on.

But with Murdoch’s move to erect a paywall around Times Online from June we’ve now seen almost all of the broadsheet newspapers set out their stall for generating income from content online – and all are taking very different approaches.

Here’s a summary.

As the Financial Times has demonstrated success requires a mix of business model and distinctive editorial – particularly when the BBC and others provide so much news content for free.

The attitude of broadsheet publishers to aggregators and search is less clear. The Times recently started blocking clipping agency Meltwater and aggregator NewsNow, but for now at least it is allowing Google in.

Google aggressively counters the claim that it is a parasite feeding off traditional media.

Speaking at the Financial Times Media & Broadcast Conference at the beginning of the March, Google UK’s managing director Matt Brittin said that the search engine was a virtual newsagent that sent four billion clicks a month to online news web sites.

So which model will work? There’s no way of telling. If I knew the answer I’d be seeking out an opportunity to invest behind one of these emerging business models.

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March 26th, 2010 by Wadds

Online newspaper circulation figures: ABC Multi-Platform Monthly Report – February 2010

May 19th, 2009 by Wadds

Do online business models promote social exclusion?

The Citizens Advice Bureau Logo.
Image via Wikipedia

As a weekly traveller on the East Coast mainline I’ve benefited from buying tickets online in advance over the last 12 months.

The best value fares are always available on the web rather than at a ticket office, often at a discount.

But a report published this morning on the UK rail industry by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee says that this situation promotes social exclusion and is unacceptable.

It’s a tricky issue. Moving a business model online so that it become self-service removes costs which can be passed on to the customer. But those without online access or the motivation to go online miss out.

This scenario is repeated in many other areas of life as front line services move online from banks and traditional Post Office services, through to local authoraties and utilities.

The Public Accounts Committee stops short of recommending a solution. Expect the issue to be picked up by a special interest group such as the Citizens Advice Bureau.

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