Times paywall

1. GROUP-7
GAURAV SHARMA(NMP-30)
HIMANSHU TIWARI(NMP-32)
ISHA DAS(NMP-33)

2. Introduction – New York Times
 Founded on Sept 18’1851
 By Henry J. Raymond & George Jones
 By 2011 had won
 106 Pulitzer Prices
 Had turnover of $ 2.3 Bn.
 Operating profit $ 57 Mn.

3. U.S. News Paper Industry & Trends
 In 2009, Industry size $ 35 Bn.
 5000 Players
 Top 50 Players accounted for 75% of Business
 Journalism Industry was getting disrupted (Internet)
 Moving from Offline to Online Content
 Evolution of Digital disruption

4. New York Times - Business
 New York Times Media Group
 New England Media Group
 REGIONAL Media Group
 About Group i.e. about.com & Other JVs

5. Online Subscription – THE PAYWALL
 First attempted by NY Times in 1996
 Was priced @ $35 per month
 Was dropped to not disturb the increasing internet user
traffic
 Second attempt in 2005
 TIMES SELECT priced @ $49.95
 Touched 227 thousand paid subscriber base by 2007
 Closed on Sept 2007 due to criticism of pay wall approach
 User base had access to similar content through social
media & blogs

6. BUSINESS CRISIS – NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY
 Overall paper circulation was declining YOY
 Advertisement revenues were declining
 Detroit free press went weekly from daily
 Ann Arbor went totally online
 Wall street journal introduced paywall successfully
 On contrary Times of London lost visitor traffic from 2.79
Mn to 1.61 Mn.
 Other media sectors suffered revenue loses due to digital
disruption
 iPad was another new medium of consuming news

7. NYT FINACIALS – 2008 TO 2011
Financials of the NYT Company ( $ millions)
2011 2010 2009 2008
Revenues
Advertising 1221 1300 1336 1771
Circulation 941 931 936 910
Other 160 162 167 258
Total Revenues 2323 2393 2440 2940
Operating Cost
Production Costs 957 962 1021 1310
SG &A 1020 1054 1153 1328
Depreciation and Amortization 116 121 134 144
Total Operating Cost 2094 2137 2308 2783
Operating Profit/Loss 57 234 74 -41
Net Income/Loss -40 108 20 -58

8. Designing New Paywall - NYT
 Types of Platforms available:
 All OR Nothing
 Exclusive Content
 Metered System
 Device Specific Offers
NYT OPTED for:
 Metered System – Allowed 23 Articles per month, extra on
paid basis
 Device Specific Offers – Different schemes for devices
 Partnered with Auto Manufacturer Lincoln for free
subscription

9. Leaky wall Concept
 Those who directed through Search Engine – limited articles
 Those through Social media – unlimited access
 Digital Pricing:
 NYT + Smartphone  $3.75
 NYT + Smartphone  $5.0
 NYT + Smartphone + Tablet  $8.75
 Print Home Delivery Pricing:
 7 Days  $15.40
 Friday - Sunday $10.80
 Only Sunday  $7.80
 Monday- Friday  $7.7

10. Results
 Febraury 2012 NYT Reported 3,90,000 paid subscriber
 70% of paid subscriber registered for digital access
 However, Potential drop in Website traffic
 Concern in Online adv. Revenue
 Overall business sentiment was not positive

11. Conclusion & Recommendations
 Positive Growth in subscriber base
 In short Term pay wall was success
 Uncertain about long term strategy
Recommendation
 They should continue with pay wall until they have
enough online adv. revenue.
 However do away slowly and steadily with pay wall.
 Initially can offer longer subscription periods to loyal
customers
 Discount on subscription to new customers