But I Thought Newspapers Couldn't Be 'Free'?
from the the-myths-the-dinosaurs-tell-you dept
We keep hearing from legacy newspaper folks how "news can't be free," as they look to set up paywalls and other such barriers to folks actually participating in the news process. And yet, as has been discussed time and time again, for most people the news was already effectively free. Subscription fees rarely (if ever) covered distribution and printing costs. The real money has always been in advertising. As if to make the point even stronger, it appears that the UK's free newspaper, the Metro, is doing phenomenally well, even as other newspapers struggle. The Metro has found its niche and they've taken to it. And it's not just about the "free" part of the newspaper. As the report notes, as the readership of the newspapers themselves have gone up (often during the daily commute), so too has the readership on the news organization's website. Apparently people are reading the news on paper while commuting, then once they get to the office, they are logging into the website to comment or share the stories with others. It's a lot tougher to do that with a paywall...
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Filed Under: business models, free, metro, newspapers, uk
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Free Papers
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Re: Free Papers
So, not only do they give away a free paper, they make more money through advertising and they create more jobs to boot.
The free paper game is so popular in London there seems to be a new player each month trying to give you something for free. But I'm sure the pro-IP crowd will be in shortly to explain how this is nonsense and we're all thieves.
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Re: Re: Free Papers
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Were you always so whiny, or did it just happen recently?
Seriously. If a company wants to give their product away (including newspapers, books, music, movies, or pictures of their dogs), they can do it and more power to them. If that is what they see as their business model, off the go.
The problem is when a company has a business model that doesn't involve giving their product away, but other people decide to give it away for them.
If you cannot understand that simple difference, the rest of the discussions here are lost on you.
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Re: Re: Re: Free Papers
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LOL ... he was so right ... so explain to us how this is nonsense again ...
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Fixed that for you.
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The problem is when a company has a business model that doesn't involve giving their product away, they get demoized by the freetards who can't control themselves and need to force them into being free.
It's like dealing with a religious cult. You will work our way. You will be free. We will force you to be free because you will like it. Drink the kool aid.
Sheesh!
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Free newspapers? Nothing new.
Frankly, I think newspaper owners not getting this is a case of magical thinking. They don't really understand their business. Never did. They just went through the motions, like their predecessors for generations before them, and never really understood which part of it does what. As for the Internet... *cough*. Series of pipes, anyone?
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Good call, copyright enforcers!
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Um. Did you even read the post? It seems to disprove your entire comment.
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That's what the other businesses aspire to and it's getting more and more common.
It's clearly a fallacy to assume that because "free" has devastated many businesses that it competes with, it must therefore be a business model that will be significant in the future - that's unlikely to happen as should be obvious to anyone watching the controls that are being imposed on access to the internet from pretty much every big business in America.
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That's what the other businesses aspire to and it's getting more and more common.
Yes, that must be why Android -- an open platform -- just surpassed Apple's iPhone operating system.
It's clearly a fallacy to assume that because "free" has devastated many businesses that it competes with, it must therefore be a business model that will be significant in the future
No one said free itself is the business model of the future. Don't stop your brain when you see the $0. We're saying that free *as a part of a business model* absolutely makes sense in many, many cases, specifically when dealing with information.
that's unlikely to happen as should be obvious to anyone watching the controls that are being imposed on access to the internet from pretty much every big business in America.
I have no idea what you're talking about, as I'm seeing a trend in the opposite direction.
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You mean the content and distribution industries right?
Truthfully it won't last. In ten to twenty years they will gone. Probably sooner with all the mistakes they are making.
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Everyone knows that free itself isn't the business model, but don't stop your brain when you see $0. There is no specific charge for iOS but Apple makes plenty of money and this can be compared to the business model for Android, but haven't you noticed that it costs a lot more now than it did even 5 years ago ?.
Extracting money from punters is the key, and that directly implies that while "free" has caused major disruptions there will be a lot less "free" in the future.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, as I'm seeing a trend in the opposite direction."
Your confusing the Masnick religion with objective reality .. try extracting you head !.
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You mean the content and distribution industries right?
Truthfully it won't last. In ten to twenty years they will gone. Probably sooner with all the anti consumer, and business mistakes they are making.
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US Version
Seems to me if you do it right, free is a very good business model.
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"Journalists might well say that there is precious little editorial innovation. Evidently, there are plans for a refreshment of some kind, but this is unlikely to be revolutionary because, to be frank, the paper has nailed down a formula that works. Why change a paper that does its job?
Its straightforward, non-political news digest manages to hold the attention of the average commuter in 50 cities across Britain (and in the Irish capital). "
"Anyway, rather surprisingly, the Metro site has trebled its traffic, achieving 3.5m uniques in November 2010 for example. One reason for the increased interest is the site's expanding gambling and gaming unit."
"But the lessons of Metro and the Standard (and, arguably, City AM) do suggest that the free model has legs, at least in London and within a paper such as Metro created from within the capital."
"Metro, by its nature, is never going to set the political agenda. Big government and big business do not fear its reporting. It doesn't break new journalistic ground.
It offers readers bland, passive, reactive journalism. Clearly, some people are happy with that. But it is passionate, committed, investigative pro-active journalism that makes a difference to and for society."
"Though a profitable, free advertising vehicle is all very well, it remains essential for us to maintain newspapers that dig and delve. I am happy for Metro to exist, but not at the expense of "real" newspapers."
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After all, what he's decrying is investigative work - he's just trying to conflate that with his employer, who presumably he counts as a real newspaper since they charge.
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The risk for all of these papers is saturation of the advertising market and a slip in ad rates. In the last couple of years in the US we have seen plenty of magazines and such fold from lack of advertising, even the TD fave Wired almost bit the big one, it got as skinny as possible.
They are also at risk because they have a symbiotic relationship with public transit. If the authorities decide to change the rules like making it illegal to hand out printed materials within 100 yards of a subway entrance or charging them 10p per paper as "garbage collection fee", these models would all fail fairly quickly. They depend on a large and fluid flow of potential readers and the "stuff it in their hands" method for distribution. If any of those things get disturbed, these papers all disappear overnight.
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What is actually in the free newspaper?
If they are anything like the free newspapers I get here, they are big on pictures, small on text, and pretty much eveything is wire stories printed verbatim. There is rarely if ever a story featured that isn't just newswire stuff, although the front page story usually is written in house (with newswires credited as sources).
I think you may be confusing the end result (newspaper) with the product (news).
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I think you may be confusing the end result (convenience) with the product (free advertising)
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All these people have done is prove that (at least for the moment) they can pay the newswire, typeset, and print a newspaper cheap enough to be covered by the ads.
In the end, the news isn't free. Mike is just purposely ignoring how it is getting paid for.
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Gawd bless the Metro
It doesn't seem to have an agenda like most papers these days (although it does seem a bit pro-gay) and reading it is easy.
Yes it doesn't have breaking edge journalism but given how half of London can barely speak English it doesn't really need it.
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The really big advantage the Metro has over other papers is that people are happier to share it. They read it on the bus or the train and then leave it on the seat when they're done. Other people can then come along and read it. Increasing the exposure advertisers get.
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