Always interesting to see this issue come up again. VIP is in the final data-gathering stage of our annual survey on 'News Needs and Preferences,' and the user-side perspective on free and fee is coming through strong in the data.
Respondents tell us that advertising-supported news content is relatively unimportant in their overall mix of news resources, but they do rely significantly on web-based versions of print products. Professional blogs are also inching upwards in importance, so perhaps part of the next-generation model isn't so much the traditional editorial news team but smaller team clusters that are more economically sustainable online...?
As of today, over 54 percent of our respondents report that their use of free news resources has increased in the past 12 months, and just under 58 percent expect it to increase further in the next 12 months.
The future of the news industry has been a hot topic for most of this year, with LiveWire contributors regularly posting on the battle between online and print (see http://www.vivavip.com/go/e26321 http://www.vivavip.com/go/e24652 and http://www.vivavip.com/go/e24414). In the past week, Londons Evening Standard newspaper decided to go free completely, thereby driving three ...
Thanks for a good write-up of the main discussion points.
I don't believe that all newspaper publishers who go to a paid model will find themselves in considerable trouble. There are two key points which will determine whether it is a troublesome transition or a triumphant transition:
Always interesting to see this issue come up again. VIP is in the final data-gathering stage of our annual survey on 'News Needs and Preferences,' and the user-side perspective on free and fee is coming through strong in the data. Respondents tell us that advertising-supported news content is relatively unimportant ...
RSS Feeds
Twitter Feed
Scroll down to read the full posting
