But Kaldor argued that this is about to change and listed five developments in technology that are making it more viable for publishers to create apps that work better for their brand and their audiences.1) Content consumption on mobile devices has soaredAs more people continue to search for editorial content on the move, publishers now have more of an opportunity to engage audiences via apps.
Showing posts with label digital newspapers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label digital newspapers. Show all posts
Sunday, May 15, 2016
5 reasons why publishers should consider developing a news app
Journalism.co.uk reporting: News apps have not delivered the returns that were promised five years ago to publishers, with news organisations still struggling toentice readers into engaging with them – or even downloading their apps in the first place. ..
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Grading The New York Times, a year after the Innovation Report
digiday reporting:
A little over a year ago, The New York Times’ internal Innovation Report was leaked, offering a candid and troubling look at how one of the world’s greatest journalism brands is lagging digitally. The report highlighted the paper’s shortcomings in everything digital, from culture to talent and workflow. It recommended the creation of audience development, analytics and strategy teams, more collaboration with reader-focused departments on the business side, and digital hiring. Here are five areas where the paper has made progress — and still has work to do.
Monday, May 4, 2015
The New York Times Will Hit One Million Digital Subscribers Soon. But Does It Matter?
re/code reporting:
...The paper finally went ahead with a paywall in 2011 and turned digital subscriptions into a growing business that generated nearly $170 million last year, up 13.5 percent from the year before. (The number of Times digital subscribers, interestingly, is growing at a rate of about 20 percent a year, which suggests the publisher is also counting free-trial members.)
...The paper finally went ahead with a paywall in 2011 and turned digital subscriptions into a growing business that generated nearly $170 million last year, up 13.5 percent from the year before. (The number of Times digital subscribers, interestingly, is growing at a rate of about 20 percent a year, which suggests the publisher is also counting free-trial members.)
The problem, however, is that despite those gains, the Times’ digital revenues — both circulation and advertising — account for little more than a fifth of the paper’s total sales and won’t in any way come close to making up for its once fat print profits. Even at 1 million paying online readers, that’s a $190 million to $200 million business. Include digital ads in that mix and it’s optimistically a $400 million digital newsroom. Still not enough to make up for print.
Print, of course, is still a billion-dollar machine for the Times, but it is, inevitably, an anachronism. The Times’ average weekday print circulation now stands at 625,951, about half the 1.18 million it garnered in 1994 when the paper of record reached its daily print peak. And it’s only getting smaller.http://recode.net/2015/05/03/the-new-york-times-will-soon-hit-1-million-digital-subscribers-but-does-it-matter/
Print, of course, is still a billion-dollar machine for the Times, but it is, inevitably, an anachronism. The Times’ average weekday print circulation now stands at 625,951, about half the 1.18 million it garnered in 1994 when the paper of record reached its daily print peak. And it’s only getting smaller.http://recode.net/2015/05/03/the-new-york-times-will-soon-hit-1-million-digital-subscribers-but-does-it-matter/
Monday, February 9, 2015
64 Ways To Think About a News Homepage
Medium reporting:
https://medium.com/thelist/64-ways-to-think-about-a-news-homepage-223c01952d26
By news homepage, I mean any way for a user to first encounter content. A push notification could very well be the new news homepage. (Related: Ways to think about push notifications.) An app is a news homepage.An article or a newsletter is a news homepage. If you listen to the news, Overcast or Soundcloud or the iTunes store may be your homepage. YouTube can be your homepage. Homepage, to me, is simply a shorthand version for any of these things. You can substitute any of the words I mentioned for homepage below.
There are lots of ways to think about a news homepage. We’ll start with the basics. 1. You can have a list of stories curated by a person, arranged by topic, the way the New York Times homepage does...64. A news story that explains everything you see on a graph, chart, or other data viz. You click on each portion for a full explanation, in words — in case you prefer words to pictures.
There are lots of ways to think about a news homepage. We’ll start with the basics. 1. You can have a list of stories curated by a person, arranged by topic, the way the New York Times homepage does...64. A news story that explains everything you see on a graph, chart, or other data viz. You click on each portion for a full explanation, in words — in case you prefer words to pictures.
https://medium.com/thelist/64-ways-to-think-about-a-news-homepage-223c01952d26
Saturday, March 29, 2014
The newsonomics of NYT Now
Nieman Lab reporting:
...The product is straightforward. It’s mobile-only and, at launch, iPhone-only. On Android, the Times says, “We’re looking at it.” There’s no tablet or web access. As mobile usage surges past 50 percent in some parts of the day and week for the Times and other news companies, NYT Now aims to exploit the compulsive, near-OCD check-in behavior of 2014 life.
The app will be a standard, standalone iPhone app, not part of Apple’s Newsstand, where the Times’ core iOS app lives. Download the app and you get 10 free articles a month — the same way metered access works on the other Times’ digital products. The price is $2 a week or $8 for four weeks.
...
The journalism is NYT Now’s foundation. Importantly, that journalism is both self-referential (which is what we’d expect of the proud, sometimes haughty, news standard of the Times) and breaking new ground — encompassing a wider world beyond the Times. So readers of NYT Now will get 30 to 50 Times stories in a given day, with stories appearing and being replaced throughout the 24-hour cycle. That’s roughly 10 to 15 percent of its total number of articles and blog posts it writes daily.
It’s an editor’s product, put together around the clock by an editorial staff of 15 to 20 (in addition to another dozen or so on the business side). Levy is modeling it on the success of New York Today, the blogging-from-the-five-boroughs NYTimes.com section that he developed last spring and which has grown in reader (and publisher) appreciation over time. He and a growing staff have built NYT Now over nine months, starting with the idea of a “need-to-know” mobile product. Think of the content in three parts, each borrowed from New York Today:
http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/03/the-newsonomics-of-nyt-now/?utm_source=API%27s+Need+to+Know+newsletter&utm_campaign=1233023689-Need_to_Know_March_28_20143_28_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e3bf78af04-1233023689-31701933
...The product is straightforward. It’s mobile-only and, at launch, iPhone-only. On Android, the Times says, “We’re looking at it.” There’s no tablet or web access. As mobile usage surges past 50 percent in some parts of the day and week for the Times and other news companies, NYT Now aims to exploit the compulsive, near-OCD check-in behavior of 2014 life.
The app will be a standard, standalone iPhone app, not part of Apple’s Newsstand, where the Times’ core iOS app lives. Download the app and you get 10 free articles a month — the same way metered access works on the other Times’ digital products. The price is $2 a week or $8 for four weeks.
...
The journalism is NYT Now’s foundation. Importantly, that journalism is both self-referential (which is what we’d expect of the proud, sometimes haughty, news standard of the Times) and breaking new ground — encompassing a wider world beyond the Times. So readers of NYT Now will get 30 to 50 Times stories in a given day, with stories appearing and being replaced throughout the 24-hour cycle. That’s roughly 10 to 15 percent of its total number of articles and blog posts it writes daily.
It’s an editor’s product, put together around the clock by an editorial staff of 15 to 20 (in addition to another dozen or so on the business side). Levy is modeling it on the success of New York Today, the blogging-from-the-five-boroughs NYTimes.com section that he developed last spring and which has grown in reader (and publisher) appreciation over time. He and a growing staff have built NYT Now over nine months, starting with the idea of a “need-to-know” mobile product. Think of the content in three parts, each borrowed from New York Today:
http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/03/the-newsonomics-of-nyt-now/?utm_source=API%27s+Need+to+Know+newsletter&utm_campaign=1233023689-Need_to_Know_March_28_20143_28_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e3bf78af04-1233023689-31701933
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Finnish daily piloting solar-charged e-reader giveaway
journalism.co.uk reporting:
Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat is testing pushing their content to an e-reader that does not require mains charging or batteries. Starting in January, 300 readers will participate in a pilot test programme and receive a free solar-charged device which retails at €40.
The current device has a glass screen but the next generation will be made of a flexible plastic that can be rolled, much in the way as a newspaper can.
The Finnish news publisher is keen to test whether giving away digital paper-like e-readers to subscribers is a cheaper solution than print distribution.
During a meeting organised by Poland's Chamber of Publishers, Janne Kaijärvi, chief media officer of Finland's Leia Media, which makes the device, demonstrated the new generation e-reader. The device, known as ePaper, can be charged by solar or artificial, in-door light.
Presenting the fully functional device, Kaijärvi explained how publishers are searching for new ways of distributing their content. "Within the past six years publishers have lost €51 billion worth in ads. Two global companies own almost 70 per cent of the advertising market in the US and western Europe – Google own 53 per cent and Facebook 16 per cent. The ratio of dollars lost in print advertising to those earned in digital is 16:1," explained Kaijärvi.
"I'm not trying to prove our solution is the best one ever created," Kaijärvi continued. "What we know for sure is that if you can make something more convenient, you can make some money out of that".
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/finnish-daily-piloting-solar-charged-e-reader-giveaway/s2/a554680/
Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat is testing pushing their content to an e-reader that does not require mains charging or batteries. Starting in January, 300 readers will participate in a pilot test programme and receive a free solar-charged device which retails at €40.
The current device has a glass screen but the next generation will be made of a flexible plastic that can be rolled, much in the way as a newspaper can.
The Finnish news publisher is keen to test whether giving away digital paper-like e-readers to subscribers is a cheaper solution than print distribution.
During a meeting organised by Poland's Chamber of Publishers, Janne Kaijärvi, chief media officer of Finland's Leia Media, which makes the device, demonstrated the new generation e-reader. The device, known as ePaper, can be charged by solar or artificial, in-door light.
Presenting the fully functional device, Kaijärvi explained how publishers are searching for new ways of distributing their content. "Within the past six years publishers have lost €51 billion worth in ads. Two global companies own almost 70 per cent of the advertising market in the US and western Europe – Google own 53 per cent and Facebook 16 per cent. The ratio of dollars lost in print advertising to those earned in digital is 16:1," explained Kaijärvi.
"I'm not trying to prove our solution is the best one ever created," Kaijärvi continued. "What we know for sure is that if you can make something more convenient, you can make some money out of that".
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/finnish-daily-piloting-solar-charged-e-reader-giveaway/s2/a554680/
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Top 10 U.S. Newspapers Ranked by Digital Circulation
When news broke on Monday that Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, had purchased The Washington Post, Twitter users and media pundits alike were quick to analyze what the purchase meant for the premiere newspaper of the nation's capital.
Interestingly enough, only 9% of WaPo subscribers pay for the digital edition of the paper: 42,313 digital subscribers of its 473,462 total circulation.
chart below ranks the top 10 newspapers in the United States by total subscribers and breaks down circulation between digital and print. As the chart shows, The Washington Post has the fewest digital subscribers and the lowest ratio of digital subscribers to print subscribers of any of the top 10 U.S. newspapers. In contrast, the New York Times is the only paper to boast more digital than print subscribers — 1.1 million versus 731,395 — bringing its total circulation to 61% digital.
http://mashable.com/2013/08/06/newspapers-digital-subscriptions/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-photo
Interestingly enough, only 9% of WaPo subscribers pay for the digital edition of the paper: 42,313 digital subscribers of its 473,462 total circulation.
chart below ranks the top 10 newspapers in the United States by total subscribers and breaks down circulation between digital and print. As the chart shows, The Washington Post has the fewest digital subscribers and the lowest ratio of digital subscribers to print subscribers of any of the top 10 U.S. newspapers. In contrast, the New York Times is the only paper to boast more digital than print subscribers — 1.1 million versus 731,395 — bringing its total circulation to 61% digital.
http://mashable.com/2013/08/06/newspapers-digital-subscriptions/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-photo
Monday, May 20, 2013
New York Times Plans to Expand via Digital into Other Countries
goodEreader reporting:
The New York Times attracts over 40 million readers to its website every month and the company sees it as a drop in the bucket. The newspaper is planning to expand into foreign language markets with a localized edition and unique content written by reporters based in those countries.
One of the big reasons why the New York Times is expanding its digital unit outside of the US is because 30% of its internet traffic stems from outside the US. This will increase the amount of advertising revenue generated. NYT obtained $191 million via advertisements in Q1 2013 and the expansion into the Portuguese market in the next few months should bolster the bottom line.
Other markets of consideration according to Marc Frons, the senior vice president and chief information officer at The New York Times, are “Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Spanish. We don’t know the timing [for launch], these things are a little more complicated than just going abroad.”
Currently the NY Times has close to 700,000 active digital subscribers that can read as much as they want on the website every month.
http://goodereader.com/blog/digital-publishing/new-york-times-plans-to-expand-via-digital-into-other-countries/
The New York Times attracts over 40 million readers to its website every month and the company sees it as a drop in the bucket. The newspaper is planning to expand into foreign language markets with a localized edition and unique content written by reporters based in those countries.
One of the big reasons why the New York Times is expanding its digital unit outside of the US is because 30% of its internet traffic stems from outside the US. This will increase the amount of advertising revenue generated. NYT obtained $191 million via advertisements in Q1 2013 and the expansion into the Portuguese market in the next few months should bolster the bottom line.
Other markets of consideration according to Marc Frons, the senior vice president and chief information officer at The New York Times, are “Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Spanish. We don’t know the timing [for launch], these things are a little more complicated than just going abroad.”
Currently the NY Times has close to 700,000 active digital subscribers that can read as much as they want on the website every month.
http://goodereader.com/blog/digital-publishing/new-york-times-plans-to-expand-via-digital-into-other-countries/
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Guardian sees 2.1% of iPad readers pay
paid content reporting:
Last month, Guardian Media Group used its annual financial disclosure to report it has, so far, attracted 17,000 paying iPad subscribers.
Friday’s full annual report adds there have been 804,000 downloads of that app. Together, this means The Guardian has converted 2.1 percent of users who have tried it to pay for it.
...After Apple’s 30 percent commission, those 17,000 iPad subscribers should yield around £118,830 per month, or £1.4 million ($2.1 million) per year, for The Guardian
...
The apparent conversion rate is, so far, less than the 17 percent of the Guardian iPhone app users who pay £4.99 per year to subscribe (free in U.S.). There are currently 82,000 iPhone subscribers, the publisher tells paidContent.
But there is one major difference between the two – whilst the iPhone app goes on giving readers a few free stories forever, the iPad edition had given everything away for free for three months, and now gives a two-week free trial, before putting up a hard subscriber wall.
The Guardian had struck a luxurious marketing deal with Apple that made it a prominent feature of iTunes Newsstand.
Although 2.1 percent sounds low, it is not necessarily as bad as it sounds…
Last month, Guardian Media Group used its annual financial disclosure to report it has, so far, attracted 17,000 paying iPad subscribers.
Friday’s full annual report adds there have been 804,000 downloads of that app. Together, this means The Guardian has converted 2.1 percent of users who have tried it to pay for it.
...After Apple’s 30 percent commission, those 17,000 iPad subscribers should yield around £118,830 per month, or £1.4 million ($2.1 million) per year, for The Guardian
...
The apparent conversion rate is, so far, less than the 17 percent of the Guardian iPhone app users who pay £4.99 per year to subscribe (free in U.S.). There are currently 82,000 iPhone subscribers, the publisher tells paidContent.
But there is one major difference between the two – whilst the iPhone app goes on giving readers a few free stories forever, the iPad edition had given everything away for free for three months, and now gives a two-week free trial, before putting up a hard subscriber wall.
The Guardian had struck a luxurious marketing deal with Apple that made it a prominent feature of iTunes Newsstand.
Although 2.1 percent sounds low, it is not necessarily as bad as it sounds…
- The Times: By early 2011, just 0.82 percent of people who had taken a free trial with The Times had converted to subscribe to its iPad app, according to a marketer which did reach-out for the publisher.
- Future Publishing: The magazine publisher in January said it had clocked 75,000 iPad Newsstand subscriptions from 9.3 million downloads of its free taster apps. That’s 0.80 percent.
- Guardian: Although the app launched in October, the sales effort only got serious in January, when the lengthy free period ended.
- http://paidcontent.org/2012/08/10/guardian-sees-2-1-percent-of-ipad-readers-pay/?utm_source=General+Users&utm_campaign=3a365ffa2d-c%3Amed+d%3A08-14&utm_medium=email
Friday, July 27, 2012
New York Times Now Has More Than Half a Million Digital Subscribers
Mashable reporting:
The digital paywall The New York Times put into effect in March 2011 continues to gain traction. Approximately
532,000
509,000 people now subscribe, up 13% from the paywall’s one-year anniversary in mid-March, according to The New York Times Company’s second quarter earnings report, released Thursday.
The company contributes the uptick in circulation primarily to the latest tightening of its paywall. Non-subscribers can now only read 10 articles per month; during the first year, they were able to read 20 per month. Digital subscriptions cost between $15 and $35 per month.
The paywall’s growth, along with an increase in home-delivery and weekday single-copy prices, led to an 8% increase in circulation revenues for the quarter, which offset a continued decline in both print (-8%) and digital (-4%) advertising. The ad declines were led by declines in display and cost-per-click advertising at the About Group, which produces an ever-expanding catalog of guides on topics ranging from lawn care to magic tricks. Overall revenue growth was about 1% year-over-year.
http://mashable.com/2012/07/26/new-york-times-paywall-has-more-than-half-a-million-subscribers/?utm_source=Daily+Buzz+from+eMedia+Vitals&utm_campaign=c27f954a53-_nb_DB_07-27-2012&utm_medium=email
The digital paywall The New York Times put into effect in March 2011 continues to gain traction. Approximately
532,000
509,000 people now subscribe, up 13% from the paywall’s one-year anniversary in mid-March, according to The New York Times Company’s second quarter earnings report, released Thursday.
The company contributes the uptick in circulation primarily to the latest tightening of its paywall. Non-subscribers can now only read 10 articles per month; during the first year, they were able to read 20 per month. Digital subscriptions cost between $15 and $35 per month.
The paywall’s growth, along with an increase in home-delivery and weekday single-copy prices, led to an 8% increase in circulation revenues for the quarter, which offset a continued decline in both print (-8%) and digital (-4%) advertising. The ad declines were led by declines in display and cost-per-click advertising at the About Group, which produces an ever-expanding catalog of guides on topics ranging from lawn care to magic tricks. Overall revenue growth was about 1% year-over-year.
http://mashable.com/2012/07/26/new-york-times-paywall-has-more-than-half-a-million-subscribers/?utm_source=Daily+Buzz+from+eMedia+Vitals&utm_campaign=c27f954a53-_nb_DB_07-27-2012&utm_medium=email
Friday, February 24, 2012
News Corp’s Times Hikes Digital Fee To Milk iPad Riches
paidcontent reporting:
A Times spokesperson tells paidContent: “We’re not ‘doubling’ our price. We’re introducing a new pack that includes all digital products. Previously, we were offering iPad access as complementary offer.” The difference may effectively be semantic.
Existing digital subscribers, of whom there are 119,255 for the Times, will stay on the previous rate until 2013. After that time, if the current subscriber count held steady, we could speculate that the rate increase would double the publisher’s theoretical maximum monthly digital income to £1.9 million, before stripping out commission to distributors like Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), a few corporate licenses etc. Doubtless, The Times would also like to add new subscribers by that time.
With Rupert Murdoch in London to launch the Sunday Sun
whilst grasping News International’s crisis for a second time, News Corp
is doubling its digital subscription fees for The Times and Sunday
Times, to take more money from wealthy iPad owners.
From March 1, The Times and Sunday Times’ Digital Pack
(for web, mobile and tablet) will hike from £2 a week (billed as £8.88
per month) to £4 per week. The web-only fee of £2 per week will remain
unchanged.A Times spokesperson tells paidContent: “We’re not ‘doubling’ our price. We’re introducing a new pack that includes all digital products. Previously, we were offering iPad access as complementary offer.” The difference may effectively be semantic.
Existing digital subscribers, of whom there are 119,255 for the Times, will stay on the previous rate until 2013. After that time, if the current subscriber count held steady, we could speculate that the rate increase would double the publisher’s theoretical maximum monthly digital income to £1.9 million, before stripping out commission to distributors like Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), a few corporate licenses etc. Doubtless, The Times would also like to add new subscribers by that time.
Some would be forgiven for thinking higher fees may make new customer
acquisition more difficult. But the average salary of the (Times’) iPad
reader is £109,000 and over 15 percent of the its daily iPad audience
earns over £200,000 a year, the publisher told paidContent last month. That’s ample room to bump the price.http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-news-corps-times-hikes-digital-fee-to-milk-ipad-riches
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Digital-First Guardian Cuts Down MediaGuardian, Two Other Print Supplements
paidcontent reporting:
MediaGuardian, which is printed every Monday, has over the years become the go-to place for news about the UK media world, covering broadcasting, print, new media, advertising and public relations news. Media types and would-be media types have read it over the years not just for news but for its job listings.
But with so much of the country’s news-reading audience now shifted online—both for breaking news and for job hunting—a comprehensive printed edition is perhaps less essential now than it used to be. That, it seems, was no less true for MediaGuardian, which had been steadily becoming a smaller section anyway.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-digital-first-guardian-cuts-down-mediaguardian-two-other-print-suppleme
More developments on the theme of printed newspapers going digital first. The Guardian has announced that the MediaGuardian, plus two other weekly supplements on education and society, will cease to be a standalone printed supplements after next week. The sections will be cut down in size and subsequently run in the main newspaper. They will remain fully operational online.
The new MediaGuardian editorial coverage will feature two interviews plus additional stories. Meanwhile, the job advertisements that used to run at the end of these supplements will now directly follow the editorial in the newspaper. No jobs will be affected by the change, according to a note on Twitter from Dan Sabbagh, head of media and technology coverage for The Guardian.MediaGuardian, which is printed every Monday, has over the years become the go-to place for news about the UK media world, covering broadcasting, print, new media, advertising and public relations news. Media types and would-be media types have read it over the years not just for news but for its job listings.
But with so much of the country’s news-reading audience now shifted online—both for breaking news and for job hunting—a comprehensive printed edition is perhaps less essential now than it used to be. That, it seems, was no less true for MediaGuardian, which had been steadily becoming a smaller section anyway.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-digital-first-guardian-cuts-down-mediaguardian-two-other-print-suppleme
Thursday, August 25, 2011
MediaNews Group Consolidates Eleven Bay Area Papers Into Two
paidcontent reporting:
In a press release first sent to employees this afternoon, the Bay Area News Group (BANG) referred to the consolidation as “streamlining.” About 120 employees, out of 1500, will lose their jobs.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-medianews-group-consolidates-eleven-bay-area-papers-into-two
California’s Bay Area residents are a couple months away from losing many of their local newspapers, as the Bay Area News Group—a division of MediaNews Group—consolidates eleven newspapers, including the Oakland Tribune, into just two: The Times and the East Bay Tribune. In addition, the San Mateo County Times will be consolidated into the Mercury News.
As of November 2, the Contra Costa Times, Valley Times, San Ramon Valley Times, Tri-Valley Herald, San Joaquin Herald, and East County Times will be consolidated into The Times. The Oakland Tribune, Alameda Times-Star, Daily Review, Argus and West County Times will be consolidated into the East Bay Tribune. The San Mateo County Times will be consolidated into the Mercury News.In a press release first sent to employees this afternoon, the Bay Area News Group (BANG) referred to the consolidation as “streamlining.” About 120 employees, out of 1500, will lose their jobs.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-medianews-group-consolidates-eleven-bay-area-papers-into-two
Friday, July 22, 2011
‘The Daily’ Launches A New Version; Hopes For Assist From Spotify
paidcontent reporting:
Another News Corp tabloid is making news today and this time it has nothing to do with Parliament or police. The Daily is out with a new edition that erases some of the biggest complaints about the iPad tab, sending users to the cover instead of a carousel, returning to where you left off instead of forcing a start at the front again, offering a table of contents that shows all the stories in each section—and, the update notice that just hit my inbox promises, more stability for the “fastest, best version yet.”
So far, the first three are right and the last one, well, after six months, I’d hate to think anyone would send out something buggier or slower. It took about about 12 seconds to see the cover and about 25 seconds to access content; that feels a little slow in iPad time but it’s much faster than the first version and the ability to go straight to cover or to the last page each saves time.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-the-daily-launches-a-new-version-hopes-for-assist-from-spotify
Another News Corp tabloid is making news today and this time it has nothing to do with Parliament or police. The Daily is out with a new edition that erases some of the biggest complaints about the iPad tab, sending users to the cover instead of a carousel, returning to where you left off instead of forcing a start at the front again, offering a table of contents that shows all the stories in each section—and, the update notice that just hit my inbox promises, more stability for the “fastest, best version yet.”
So far, the first three are right and the last one, well, after six months, I’d hate to think anyone would send out something buggier or slower. It took about about 12 seconds to see the cover and about 25 seconds to access content; that feels a little slow in iPad time but it’s much faster than the first version and the ability to go straight to cover or to the last page each saves time.
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-the-daily-launches-a-new-version-hopes-for-assist-from-spotify
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Guardian closes international print editions to focus on digital
nma reporting:
The publisher will stop printing editions at five sites: Cyprus, Frankfurt, Madrid, Malta and New York. The focus will now be on serving overseas audiences via the Guardian website and mobile platforms. The distribution of Guardian Weekly will also be increased.
Adam Freeman, commercial executive director, said in a statement: “Our international print editions have been a valued part of what we do for a number of years, but as a result of the structural changes affecting all printed newspapers, we have been steadily reducing the number of copies we publish outside the UK since 2010 due to reasons of demand and cost.”
The decision is one of the first manifestations of Guardian News & Media’s digital-first strategy announced last Friday (nma.co.uk 17 June 2011).
The publisher said it will put digital platforms and development ahead of print to help it cut costs and halt losses in response to sustained upheaval across the media sector, which has seen a rise in digital audiences but declines in print circulation, print readership and, as a result, print ad revenues.
...While UK nationals guardian.co.uk and Mail Online are on a determined expansion drive in the US, conversely overseas news titles in the UK are beginning to see double-figure growth, starting to compete with homegrown publications, according to figures from UKOM/Nielsen.
UKOM/Nielsen rankings released last week, showing the top 40 news sites by unique UK visitors for May 2011, found that The Huffington Post, India Times and The Washington Post all experienced double-digit growth from May 2010 (nma.co.uk 27 June 2011).
The Huffington Post grew its audience by 26% to 459,000 unique visitors, while India Times was up 124% to 358,000. The Washington Post jumped 41% to 253,000 unique visitors.
http://www.nma.co.uk/3028050.article?cmpid=NMAE01&cmptype=newsletter&email=true
The publisher will stop printing editions at five sites: Cyprus, Frankfurt, Madrid, Malta and New York. The focus will now be on serving overseas audiences via the Guardian website and mobile platforms. The distribution of Guardian Weekly will also be increased.
Adam Freeman, commercial executive director, said in a statement: “Our international print editions have been a valued part of what we do for a number of years, but as a result of the structural changes affecting all printed newspapers, we have been steadily reducing the number of copies we publish outside the UK since 2010 due to reasons of demand and cost.”
The decision is one of the first manifestations of Guardian News & Media’s digital-first strategy announced last Friday (nma.co.uk 17 June 2011).
The publisher said it will put digital platforms and development ahead of print to help it cut costs and halt losses in response to sustained upheaval across the media sector, which has seen a rise in digital audiences but declines in print circulation, print readership and, as a result, print ad revenues.
...While UK nationals guardian.co.uk and Mail Online are on a determined expansion drive in the US, conversely overseas news titles in the UK are beginning to see double-figure growth, starting to compete with homegrown publications, according to figures from UKOM/Nielsen.
UKOM/Nielsen rankings released last week, showing the top 40 news sites by unique UK visitors for May 2011, found that The Huffington Post, India Times and The Washington Post all experienced double-digit growth from May 2010 (nma.co.uk 27 June 2011).
The Huffington Post grew its audience by 26% to 459,000 unique visitors, while India Times was up 124% to 358,000. The Washington Post jumped 41% to 253,000 unique visitors.
http://www.nma.co.uk/3028050.article?cmpid=NMAE01&cmptype=newsletter&email=true
Monday, June 27, 2011
La Tribune Starts Charging For More Online Content
paidcontent reporting: French daily business paper La Tribune will start charging for more of its website, in a strategy to edge consumers toward a full-fledged subscription.
The title had already charged a flat €10 per month for online access to the print-originated stories that make up 60 percent of LaTribune.fr.
Now it is also beginning to charge for more individual bits of content, starting with opinion articles for €0.49 each, by introducing Cleeng, a payment mechanism that can require payments for smaller content fragments, including for components of articles and parts of video.
“The step between advertising and subscription is too large for consumers,” Cleeng founder-CEO Gilles Domartini tells paidContent. “The logic is that you can better convert people to subscription through CRM programs after a few successful individual transactions. That is the mid-term plan we have with them.”
LaTribune.fr will soon introduce a daily pass and charging for archive web-originated articles using Cleeng, Domartini says. The company is operating an 80/20 share from payments. A Cleeng user account can be paid using Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, SMS and phone bills.
http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-la-tribune-starts-charging-for-more-online-content
Now it is also beginning to charge for more individual bits of content, starting with opinion articles for €0.49 each, by introducing Cleeng, a payment mechanism that can require payments for smaller content fragments, including for components of articles and parts of video.
“The step between advertising and subscription is too large for consumers,” Cleeng founder-CEO Gilles Domartini tells paidContent. “The logic is that you can better convert people to subscription through CRM programs after a few successful individual transactions. That is the mid-term plan we have with them.”
LaTribune.fr will soon introduce a daily pass and charging for archive web-originated articles using Cleeng, Domartini says. The company is operating an 80/20 share from payments. A Cleeng user account can be paid using Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, SMS and phone bills.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
The Washington Post is making money the new-fashioned way, by playing roulette
Poynter:
In the newspaper business, every year brings fresh buzzwords. Jockeying for the lead so far in 2011 are “new revenue streams” and its corollary “many small bets.” But what does that mean, in practice, for a given paper?
I heard an answer in a talk by The Washington Post’s Ken Babby at the International Newspaper Marketing Association World Congress in New York last month. Babby’s title picked up one of my favorite metaphors for the exercise: “Emerging Digital Media Platforms: Past, Present and Future Roulette.”
Babby was the top advertising executive at The Washington Post before he turned 30. And, in the 18 months since I met him at a Poynter conference on the future of advertising, his title has morphed to “Chief Revenue Officer” — signaling that some of the best emerging opportunities are not advertising in a traditional sense.
Though I missed the conference, Babby brought me up to speed in a phone interview. He has both a theory of how to play the game so as to beat the odds, and a litany of unorthodox businesses the Post has launched.
Babby prefers the term “strategic bets” to small bets. Some, like mobile and tablet apps are likely to be expensive; some will have a payoff, if any, later rather than right now.
“The roulette wheel epitomizes how many choices we have,” he said, “Our resources are limited — not just dollars but also time.”
So the Post is going for a mix of “short-term cash and long-term value.” One of the successful new ventures is a non-digital one. “We have built a great conference/live events business,” Babby said.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/business-news/the-biz-blog/136088/the-washington-post-is-making-money-the-new-fashioned-way-by-playing-roulette
In the newspaper business, every year brings fresh buzzwords. Jockeying for the lead so far in 2011 are “new revenue streams” and its corollary “many small bets.” But what does that mean, in practice, for a given paper?
I heard an answer in a talk by The Washington Post’s Ken Babby at the International Newspaper Marketing Association World Congress in New York last month. Babby’s title picked up one of my favorite metaphors for the exercise: “Emerging Digital Media Platforms: Past, Present and Future Roulette.”
Babby was the top advertising executive at The Washington Post before he turned 30. And, in the 18 months since I met him at a Poynter conference on the future of advertising, his title has morphed to “Chief Revenue Officer” — signaling that some of the best emerging opportunities are not advertising in a traditional sense.
Though I missed the conference, Babby brought me up to speed in a phone interview. He has both a theory of how to play the game so as to beat the odds, and a litany of unorthodox businesses the Post has launched.
Babby prefers the term “strategic bets” to small bets. Some, like mobile and tablet apps are likely to be expensive; some will have a payoff, if any, later rather than right now.
“The roulette wheel epitomizes how many choices we have,” he said, “Our resources are limited — not just dollars but also time.”
So the Post is going for a mix of “short-term cash and long-term value.” One of the successful new ventures is a non-digital one. “We have built a great conference/live events business,” Babby said.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/business-news/the-biz-blog/136088/the-washington-post-is-making-money-the-new-fashioned-way-by-playing-roulette
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Guardian going digital first - what it really means
Jeff Jarvis reporting:
This week, Guardian Editor-in-Chief Alan Rusbridger declared that the paper would go “digital first,” following John Paton’s lead and stopping a step short of his strategy at Journal Register: “digital first … print last.”
My Guardian friends are getting a bit tetchy about folks trying to tell them how to fix the institution, but given that it lost £34.4m last year, I’d say the intervention is warranted and should be seen only as loving care: chicken soup for the strategy. So I will join in.
My thoughts about the Guardian have something to do with my thoughts on the article. That’s a logical connection because the means of production and distribution of print are what mandated the invention of the article. So it is fitting that we consider its fate in that context.
But first let’s examine what it means to be digital first. It does not mean just putting one’s stories online before the presses roll. In that case, print still dictates the form and rhythm of news: everything in the process of a newsroom is still aimed at fitting round stories into squared holes on pages. That, as Jay Rosen says, is the key skill newsroom residents think they have (and the skill journalism schools prepare them for): the production cycle of print.
Digital first, aggressively implemented, means that digital drives all decisions: how news is covered, in what form, by whom, and when. It dictates that as soon as a journalist knows something, she is prepared to share it with her public. It means that she may share what she knows before she knows everything (there’s a vestige of the old culture, which held that we could know everything … and by deadline to boot) so she can get help from her public to fill in what she doesn’t know. That resets the journalistic relationship to the community, making the news organization a platform first, enabling a community to share its information and inviting the journalist to add value to that process. It means using the most appropriate media to impart information because we are no longer held captive to only one: text.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-article-and-the-future-of-print-2011-6
This week, Guardian Editor-in-Chief Alan Rusbridger declared that the paper would go “digital first,” following John Paton’s lead and stopping a step short of his strategy at Journal Register: “digital first … print last.”
My Guardian friends are getting a bit tetchy about folks trying to tell them how to fix the institution, but given that it lost £34.4m last year, I’d say the intervention is warranted and should be seen only as loving care: chicken soup for the strategy. So I will join in.
My thoughts about the Guardian have something to do with my thoughts on the article. That’s a logical connection because the means of production and distribution of print are what mandated the invention of the article. So it is fitting that we consider its fate in that context.
But first let’s examine what it means to be digital first. It does not mean just putting one’s stories online before the presses roll. In that case, print still dictates the form and rhythm of news: everything in the process of a newsroom is still aimed at fitting round stories into squared holes on pages. That, as Jay Rosen says, is the key skill newsroom residents think they have (and the skill journalism schools prepare them for): the production cycle of print.
Digital first, aggressively implemented, means that digital drives all decisions: how news is covered, in what form, by whom, and when. It dictates that as soon as a journalist knows something, she is prepared to share it with her public. It means that she may share what she knows before she knows everything (there’s a vestige of the old culture, which held that we could know everything … and by deadline to boot) so she can get help from her public to fill in what she doesn’t know. That resets the journalistic relationship to the community, making the news organization a platform first, enabling a community to share its information and inviting the journalist to add value to that process. It means using the most appropriate media to impart information because we are no longer held captive to only one: text.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-article-and-the-future-of-print-2011-6
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The Financial Times shuns the App Store, but not the iPad
NiemannJournalismLab reporting:
The Financial Times has launched a new, subscription-based iPad app, but you won’t find it in Apple’s App Store. The app is a touch-optimized, HTML5-powered newspaper that runs in the browser.
And it’s slick. Open app.ft.com in Mobile Safari and you’re prompted to add a bookmark to your home screen, which unlocks the site’s full potential. The app launches full-screen, unencumbered by browser chrome. It’s fast and smooth. Stories are downloaded, which allows for offline reading.
In other words, the FT’s web app is practically indistinguishable from a native app.
That’s important, as Peter Kafka notes, because it allows the FT to deliver a “native” experience without having to play by Apple’s subscription rules. But it will become much more important, and interesting, if the newspaper pulls its existing apps out of the App Store next month, when Apple’s policy will become a Hobson’s choice for all publishers. At that point, Apple will demand a share of the publishers’ proceeds and keep valuable subscriber data to itself.
The FT’s promotional video opens thusly: “The FT app is moving.” And it seems to promote the web app’s advantages over its predecessor, the native app. “The app is quicker. You can now read more content and watch our award-winning video on iPhone as well as iPad,” the narrator says. The web app, in other words, could well be a test case for paid content that does its thing outside the confines of Apple’s walled garden. Though the FT says it has “no plans to pull out of any apps store,” Kafka notes, he continues: “That’s not the same as saying it plans to stick around, either.”
http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/06/the-financial-times-shuns-the-app-store-but-not-the-ipad/?utm_source=Daily+Lab+email+list&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ffbc54cd25-DAILY_EMAIL
The Financial Times has launched a new, subscription-based iPad app, but you won’t find it in Apple’s App Store. The app is a touch-optimized, HTML5-powered newspaper that runs in the browser.
And it’s slick. Open app.ft.com in Mobile Safari and you’re prompted to add a bookmark to your home screen, which unlocks the site’s full potential. The app launches full-screen, unencumbered by browser chrome. It’s fast and smooth. Stories are downloaded, which allows for offline reading.
In other words, the FT’s web app is practically indistinguishable from a native app.
That’s important, as Peter Kafka notes, because it allows the FT to deliver a “native” experience without having to play by Apple’s subscription rules. But it will become much more important, and interesting, if the newspaper pulls its existing apps out of the App Store next month, when Apple’s policy will become a Hobson’s choice for all publishers. At that point, Apple will demand a share of the publishers’ proceeds and keep valuable subscriber data to itself.
The FT’s promotional video opens thusly: “The FT app is moving.” And it seems to promote the web app’s advantages over its predecessor, the native app. “The app is quicker. You can now read more content and watch our award-winning video on iPhone as well as iPad,” the narrator says. The web app, in other words, could well be a test case for paid content that does its thing outside the confines of Apple’s walled garden. Though the FT says it has “no plans to pull out of any apps store,” Kafka notes, he continues: “That’s not the same as saying it plans to stick around, either.”
http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/06/the-financial-times-shuns-the-app-store-but-not-the-ipad/?utm_source=Daily+Lab+email+list&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ffbc54cd25-DAILY_EMAIL
Friday, June 3, 2011
Orange County Register reinvents evening news cycle with curated iPad app
Poynter reporting:
While some newspapers are tiptoeing into iPad apps with replica editions of their print products, The Orange County Register has developed something quite different: a curated editorial product published late in the day.
The Register’s approach to the iPad is fundamentally different than many newspapers. Instead of asking themselves how to get all their newspaper content onto the iPad, they started from scratch to design a product tailored to the demographics and behaviors of tablet users.
In the process, the app is breaking conventions by publishing in the evening and limiting its scope to a handful of most-desired topics.
The company decided early that its app should not be everything to everyone, and that a reformatted edition of the morning newspaper is not good enough.
“We’ve got plenty of time to do what some of our peers are doing with a replica edition” in order to reach existing newspaper readers, Bennett said. “What we’re after is that new audience that we haven’t necessarily reached in the past 10 or 15 years.”
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/media-lab/mobile-media/134450/orange-county-register-reinvents-pm-news-cycle-with-curated-ipad-app
While some newspapers are tiptoeing into iPad apps with replica editions of their print products, The Orange County Register has developed something quite different: a curated editorial product published late in the day.
The Register’s approach to the iPad is fundamentally different than many newspapers. Instead of asking themselves how to get all their newspaper content onto the iPad, they started from scratch to design a product tailored to the demographics and behaviors of tablet users.
In the process, the app is breaking conventions by publishing in the evening and limiting its scope to a handful of most-desired topics.
The company decided early that its app should not be everything to everyone, and that a reformatted edition of the morning newspaper is not good enough.
“We’ve got plenty of time to do what some of our peers are doing with a replica edition” in order to reach existing newspaper readers, Bennett said. “What we’re after is that new audience that we haven’t necessarily reached in the past 10 or 15 years.”
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/media-lab/mobile-media/134450/orange-county-register-reinvents-pm-news-cycle-with-curated-ipad-app
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