In the effort to preserve their audiences, both in the printed newspapers and digital media, journalistic companies have begun to combine tools that allow their readers to take advantage of the best of their integrated platforms.
The advertising that migrates from the printed to the digital has led them to adopt new business and subscription models that, at the end of the day, end up ensuring good income to these journalistic companies and empowering, individually, their informative platforms.
Revenue from digital journals have been increasing, although they are not expected to surpass the income from the printed in a decade.
The advertising saturation with ads of lower relative cost in the websites of the greatest printed journals and social media has caused a natural reaction of users to dodge or block them in order to avoid interruptions in the reading of their favorite content.
There are tools that sort of pay back the time that the user lost while going through some ads, increasing the value of the data.
Now the greatest news broadcasters “hook” their subscribers up with ‘premium’ or quality content without any advertisement interferences, but at the same time they offer them tools or applications of their own to lead them to innovative ways of services or entertainment content.
These outlets link their research laboratories with advertising companies with ingenious advertisement presets that at the beginning do not seem as actual ads, but they are, guaranteeing further effectiveness and impact.
The New York Times, for example, offers in its digital version a customizable Spotify according to the preferences of the subscribing user, as well as their website Watching, to ease the navigation of those users and to also straightforward recommend them the top contents they might be looking for or find enjoyable, according to their tastes.
At the same time, The Washington Post, offers its “Bandito” application that allows any reader to look for different versions of a story, analysis, images, texts or headlines, to choose the one that best matches their information preferences without drowning in the mountain of content that overwhelms the digital space.
The pricing rates for digital subscriptions, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center of Washington D.C., average $10 USD per month, an amount that many pay to receive high quality service and contents, through mobile and others devices, by accepting partial or total payment plans for a semester or year.
These outlets also offer free trial subscriptions or discounted plans for a while, all in order to attract more users and support their means of income in the long-term. They earn income for both of their pockets, it’s a win-win formula.
Some outstanding media replicate their printed editions on their digital line and offer incentives such as cookbooks, sports statistics, film screenings, unlimited access to digital editions of other associated companies and a variety of gifts.
These offers are often valid for both platforms. Printed newspapers readers, for example, might be rewarded with special coupons, tickets or credit cards to access sites and services found in diverse sales over the Internet.
As you can see, the printed newspapers still appeal to multiple strategies and mechanisms to survive in this digital age, soothing the downfall of their revenues which have been traditionally also received from advertising and subscriptions, now they pick themselves up through their websites or social media.
– Translated from spanish by Randy Rodriguez.
Director's Thoughts 