Paid-Content Wars Heat Up
As the Pittsburgh Post Gazette becomes the latest newspaper to delve into charging for online content, the Newport Daily News is reporting that its much-criticized move to bolster print by charging online readers higher fees is working.
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette—the city’s largest daily, known locally as PG—announced recently it was launching a members-only paid-content site.
Dubbed PG+, the new site will offer exclusive access to content created by some of the newspaper’s best-known contributors, according to an announcement put out by the paper.
“PG+ will provide an exciting new experience for members, mixing social networking, live chats, videos, blogs and a behind-the-scenes look at the news of the day,” the announcement said. “Members also will gain exclusive access to special Post-Gazette events and will receive outstanding deals across a wide range of sports, retail and entertainment venues.”
The Post Gazette is pitching the service for $36 a year or $3.99 a month.
The announcement comes as newspapers across the board are losing circulation in droves and ad dollars in the billions.
Newspaper advertising plummeted by another $2.8 billion in the second quarter of this year, a 29% dip from the same period last year and the industry’s worst contraction yet, according to the most recent figures from the Newspaper Association of America.
As a result, newspaper publishers are increasingly discussing charging for content to stop the industry’s current free-fall.
And as the Post Gazette forges ahead into the paid-content arena, the Newport, RI Daily News is reporting its summer experiment in charging hefty fees to online readers has worked, according to a recent report in Newsweek magazine.
In a move that was roundly criticized—including by this newsletter—The Newport Daily News announced in June it would charge $145 annually to newspaper subscribers, $245 to subscribers who wanted the paper and access to the paper’s Web site—and $345 to subscribers who only wanted the Web site.
What happened? Well, first the people stopped calling the Newport Daily News’ circulation department to cancel their subscriptions, according to Newsweek’s report.
Moreover, newsstand sales reportedly went up by 200 copies a day, a significant number for a paper with a circulation of 13,000.
“Lots of people thought we were crazy,” assistant publisher and general manager William Lucey said, according to Newsweek. “Quite a few had us in the obituary column. We haven’t gone away, and that’s always good.”
Meanwhile, paidContent.org has compiled a partial list of daily newspapers that have put up pay walls and how they’re faring. Access the report here.
