April 30, 2017
Fake News’s Rise Reinvigorates Subscription Model Debate
Since inception subscription models for newspapers have been a hard sell for many. Sure, there’s the question of quality, of brand loyalty, and even incidental spending – a main masthead in the author’s hometown of Melbourne currently campaigns on subscription for just 50c (USD 38c) a day – but a tough question remains: Why would I buy access to news when I can get it for free?
In seeking to win subscriptions many newspapers now operate on a freemium model. From The Age in Melbourne all the way across the world to The New York Times, many newspapers now give readers a form of free access. This may be 1 article a day (reset every 24 hours), up to 30 articles a month (not reset daily but merely capped at 30), and beyond.
There are those who’ll happily pay for news, or incentivised by the promise of exclusive or bonus content. Yet when online news was free for so long, the idea of subsequently needing to pay for it is something many readers long found unpalatable. But the past year has changed this in a big way.
The Devil is in the Details
Tracing the exact origin of … Click to continue reading