After the double whammy of job losses and paywall failure at Johnston Press, I was interested to read suggestions from business web guru Alex Ogilvie on how newspapers could entice readers in paying for content.
He points out that his every second of online news browsing is monitored and so newspapers have a “fabulous opportunity to up sell me to being a paying online member”. He adds:
If I’m reading the Holiday pages – get me signed up for £2.99 a month to get discounts on holidays, travel and Spanish sombreros. If I’m reading the Cookery pages get me signed up to get discounts at the local Waitrose or Tesco.
The incentive for readers to subscribe to the Scotsman’s paywall in Edinburgh was, according to Alex, a one-off £10 M&S voucher – “hardly an incentive at all” he says, and I have to agree.
But can it really be that simple? Has the answer to the paywall problem been under our noses all along? Could using offers as an incentive for readers to sign up to regular payments be the new business model that newspapers need? What do you think?
£10 M&S Voucher; that’s really not bad. ;0)
One a month would be even better!