Last week we learnt that the London Times said that they have 50,000 online subscribers since they put up a paywall accessing the site four months ago. They said that they had 105,000 subscriptions but only half this figure paid more than a once off £1 subscription fee and it includes those using the Kindle or the Ipad app.
I’m hearing that a paywall of sorts is going to go up at the Irish Times again. (They took the last wall down in 2008). Pressure to monetise the online content is coming from losses in 2009 of €27.9m. Shortly after the publication of these results Irish Times Online Editor Hugh Linehan’s requested suggestions for online content from readers, it seems that many in Tara Street are desperate to make some money. The €50m that they paid for Myhome.ie must hurt the board each time they think about it, though the company claims that the property site will be in the black by the end of the year.
Linehan has openly admitted that the online product needed to improve but how are they going to make people pay for access to the paper and the website, blogs and breaking news content? Especially when we have sites rolling out news (and possibly original conent?) like The Journal.ie and several others in gestation. Competition from RTE’s online product is frequently referred to by independent broadcasters and print sources as being unfairly advantaged, however the broadcaster has indicated that the online content is not funded by the licence fee.
The Irish Times have recently launched an epaper product and claims that there are 1,500 daily sales with 30,000 ipad application downloads. The launch of the e-paper earlier this year meant it was more difficult to use the website to access the online content however e-paper subscribers could pay to read the paper online in an easier format.
So would you pay to access the print content of the Irish Times? Maybe if they included some original online content, liveblogs, blogs etc.?
um putting the current stuff behind paywalls, it’ll be old news by the time ppl have signed up, they have their archive behind a paywall, that not doing it for them?
be good to get cheaper 1 off article rather then it costing 10euro
they could put all their columnists behind paywalls, see if ppl pay for that tripe
still not convinced hugh linehan likes the web, or ppl or anything, he’s film critic isn’t he
im sure you aware but the issue with RTE.ie is not that the online content isn’t funded by licences payer but that they don’t pay RTE for use of its content
Steve: you’re right – I don’t like ppl very much. Am a bit more positive about ‘the web’, though surely at this stage we’ve moved beyond liking or disliking it? It’s like saying you like or dislike air.
Maman: on a point of information, the blog post you’re linking to was specifically looking for users to suggest ways we should improve interactivity, rather than the general plea for suggestions on how to make some money which you seem to imply. Which is not to say that the chasllenge of how to build a sustainable revenue stream from digital platforms doesn’t exercise The Irish Times. It does, as it does every newspaper company on the planet.
And yes, we need to improve, which involves both sorting out the legacy issues in our technology and changing the way we think about how we deliver the right content in the best way to different platforms.
One last (important) thing: your headline is incorrect. I think you need better sources.
Enough people are not going to pay for yesterday’s news when we can get today’s news for free on the BBC, RTE, and many other sites. In fact if we really want to read yesterday’s news we can also get it on these sites.
If the Irish Times (or any other newspaper) wants to make money from moving online then they need to offer something special to attract paying customers. At the very least the archive of all past editions need to be available both in the “as they appeared” format and in the typed webpage friendly format. If the National archives can digitise the past census then the past editions of newspapers can also be digitised (with some work).
Beyond that they will need to look at more innovative ways of attracting buyers. Perhaps some form of community journalism. Afterall there is a debate about the threat to traditional journalism from citizen journalism and blogs. Perhaps the Irish Times could find a way to build in citizen journalism.
The Times is considered the Newspaper or Record but as Newspapers decline it could evolve into the Archive of Record. Every piece of daily Irish life recorded for future reference. In the main section you continue to have the newspaper largely as it stands. Quality articles and analysis of national and international events.
But in the community section you have a finer detail of news. Open any local newspaper and you get community announcements, village news, local sports results. All articles written by the participants and submitted for print to the paper. They could just as easily be submitted to the Irish Times Community Pages. You want to know when the next Parish Council meeting is. Check your community page on the Times site. You want to check the latest Debating IV results. Check the expanded “sports results” section on the Times site.
Traditional Journalism and Citizen journalism harnessed to create the Archive of Record.
The paywall issue is a hugely important one to the future of journalism.
If we’re to accept that newspapers, in their traditional form, will die one day, and quite soon, then the means of making the web pay is possibly the most crucial debate in the history of media.
There are two diametrically opposed models, led by two iconic English newspapers: the Times and the Guardian.
The Guardian have put together the most exceptional website. It’s the reference point for all media organisations worldwide. Put it costs a fortune, and regardless of the eight-figure advertising revenues, it’s making huges losses every day.
The Times fall well behind the Guardian, and their traffic has plummeted since the decision to put all content behind a paywall earlier this year. And yet, despite an environment in which, it seems, 99.9 per cent of people are steadfastly unwilling to cough up for content, they’re actually getting thousands of people to pay. Okay, it might only be 100,000, and many of those might have paid no more than £1, but it’s a start. Those users can also be targeted for specialist advertising, because so much more is known about them than the vast bulk of the anonymous, faceless millions who routinely visit the Guardian.
It’s a fascinating contest, and I await its resolution with interest. There’s a long, long way to go, but I would suggest that Rupert Murdoch (the owner of Times) knows a thing or two about creating revenue streams.
My money’s on him to succeed. In decades to come there will be history books written about the early years of the internet and its folly of free-for-all information.
Or else I’ll be miles wide of the mark. It’s been known.
It’s interesting, and very true, what Shane Breslin says about the two models – though one fact that had completely escaped my notice until recently is that the Daily Mail website has now overtaken The Guardian for practically every single meaningful metric on a daily/monthly basis for the last 5 months now… perhaps there’s a lesson in their approach for at least one Irish news outlet to adapt. As often as people like to take shots at it: it works, and it’s cheap.
@Colm Just on a point of information: The Irish Times IS available in digitised format.
A digital archive containing every page of The Irish Times published since the newspaper’s foundation in 1859 was launched in October 2007.
Longest comments I’ve had on a blog post in ages!
I forgot to link to a piece in the Irish Times last month on the losses that were reported where the Managing Director spoke about
So Hugh there is no paywall coming of any type? No parts of the published content are going to be subscription based and\or not published online?
Maman: When you look at the Guardian’s stated strategy, they don’t state ‘free’ as a theological dogma. They just say they’ll adopt whatever they think is the best strategy for them, which includes charging for some services along with building other digital revenue streams. We would say pretty much the same thing – we’ll make whatever we think are the best decisions for The Irish Times. I’m sure you’ll understand when I say I’m not going to give advance warning of what those decisions might entail over the next few months and years – all in good time! But as I said previously, we are not currently constructing a paywall.
To answer the actual question: No; not now, not ever. And not just because the IT has turned into a right-wing rag — paywalls don’t and will never work.
adam
PS. Ta for the subs checkbox MP!
Interesting interview with the Guardian’s editor here:
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s3058684.htm
where he points out that the Times has lost print sales since putting its paywall up.
the web is links
your articles have no links
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sciencetoday/2010/1125/1224284093643.html