European Newspapers Introduce More Online Payment Walls
No no, this is not the newspaper payment wall blog, but as we keep up with global publisher reaction to what we think is a move in the wrong direction, we want to keep you informed as well. Plus, it really is something new for us to talk about in the newspaper industry. How much longer could we discuss failing revenues and pure play online competitor models? Nonetheless, it appears as though the European markets are moving along at an aggressive rate to introduce online newspaper payment walls; more so than any US organization and a lot of that has to do with circulation penetration by geography. Watching the circulation numbers in Europe (excluding the UK) versus the US, one clearly sees a greater penetration in the European markets. To put it into perspective, according to the World Association of Newspapers, globally newspapers saw a circulation increase of 1.3 per cent, but when you review the ABC numbers on circulation, you see that US papers experienced a decrease of 10.6 per cent last year. There seems to be a greater value proposition being told around these newspaper properties in European markets, outside of the UK and understanding that value could aid North American publishers in creating some profitable newspaper spin-offs.
So, given consumer reaction to the printed news in Europe, I can see how some publishers may think that monetizing or adding payment walls to their generalized news content online, would be the next obvious step. The only concern I would raise is that an online payment wall, now – in the ever exciting age of digital – regardless of what part of the world you are in, just makes it easier for a pure play online news competitor to come into your market with strength. That loyalty to the printed word will only last so long, especially if I find I can get unbiased coverage of the same news online and for free.
Most recently in Europe, the publishers to launch payment walls are the French paper Le Figaro, and as of today, Axel Springer with two of its German newspapers, the Berliner Morgenpost and the Hamburger Abendblatt. And as we’ve also posted in recent blogs, there are a slew of others working out their payment wall model as well.
