4. Why a new business model for news is needed
Most U.S. print newspapers will be gone in five years
“Circulation of U.S. print newspapers continues to plummet, and we
believe that the only newspapers in America that will survive in print
form will be at the extremes of the medium – the largest and the
smallest,” said Cole. "It’s likely that only four major daily
newspapers with global reach will continue in print: The
New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street
Journal. At the other extreme, local weekly newspapers may
still survive, as well as the Sunday print editions of
metropolitan newspapers that otherwise may exist only
in online editions.”
5. In-class team exercise:
You are publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle, and it’s in financial trouble. You
are in charge of designing a new business model for the digital age.
This is your current situation:
Print edition 7 days a week Editorial staff down half from
ads, home subscriptions, retail highest level
sales, retail ad inserts Print circ.:
SFGate.com website: 2012 = 229K M-F
free access, ad supported 2000 = 457K M-F
49ers Insider digital tablet Classified $ down 70% since 2000
magazine Ad revenue: typical of industry...
free to print subscribers; $4.99/
season for others
Mobile apps
free to download, free content,
ad supported
E-edition
subscriptions
6. In-class team exercise:
What will your business model look like and consist Team members:
of? Here’s a list of most available revenue strategies _____________________
available to save the San Francisco Chronicle: _____________________
SFGate.com website: Paid print edition, 7 days a week
Free content Reduce to 3 print editions a week
Display ads Print only weekend/Sunday edition
Targeted/contextual ads Shut down print edition (online only)
Sell memberships (free content,
Syndication
member benefits)
Hard paywall Apply for foundation grants (big
investigative projects)
Partial hard paywall (some free content)
Metered paywall Smartphone/tablet app (free)
Porous paywall Smartphone/tablet app ($)
Digital subscription (web, tablet, Lay off staff
smartphone access) Who? _____________________
Niche paid ($) websites (e.g., NFL) Hire more staff
Sell by article/video (micropayments) Editorial
E-commerce (sell stuff)
Tech, developers, programmers
Join web news subscription package ($)
Do social-media marketing for local
Other _____________________
businesses
Other _____________________
11. Porous paywall
Clicking to NYTimes.com article from these sources
doesn’t count against your 10-articles-per-month limit (non subscribers)
Facebook
Twitter
Blogs, Tumblr, etc.
Google web search
Google News
Pretty much, a link to NYT article from
anywhere (other than NYTimes.com)
13. Online only (dump print edition)
Became online-only in March 2009; drastically reduced news staff
14. 3 print editions a week | digital 7 days
Reduced to 3 print editions a week this week (Sept. 29, 2012)
15. Paid-subscription news aggregation
This service didn’t survive.
Launched in January 2011 with $12 million in funding from the
New York Times, Washington Post and Gannett.