Cincinnati Enquirer's New Online Subscription Model

Last week The Cincinnati Enquirer began a new subscription model for those wishing to read the paper online.  Responding to the changing readership patterns fostered by a myriad of electronic devices, Cincinnati’s sole daily newspaper has adopted a model already embraced by some other major national publications.  Now those wishing to read articles online will be able to read a limited number without paying for a subscription.  In any given month that number of articles is twenty.  Want to read more that month and you must pay.

For several years, newspapers have been struggling with how to monetize delivery of online material.  In the early years of web publication, newspapers looked at online content as a novelty.  It was something that only a relatively few technically adroit readers would find useful.  Jumping ahead to 2012 we find the landscape much different.  The number of daily “paper and ink” publications is shrinking and paid readership of those still publishing is also on the wane.  Even award winning newspapers like the New Orleans Times Picayune no longer publish a hard copy version every day of the week.

Last Year the New York Times adopted this online subscription model.  I subscribe to the New York Times and can read it on my Kindle, smart phone or computer.  I have also been a subscriber to the WallStreet Journal online edition.   The latter was never offered free on line.

I signed up for the online version of the Enquirer.  So far I am impressed.  The Enquirer has adopted a point and click navigation system for reading the newspaper.   You can read the paper page by page as the online version has the same page layout and format used in the print edition.   You also have the choice of reading the articles in a regular text format.  Using this method allows you to copy and paste the article from the newspaper into a word document or email.

Unlike Cincinnati.com, the Enquirer’s website, which is filled with intrusive display ads that dominate the page and make reading articles painful, the Enquirer’s E-newspaper contains only the ads as they would be seen in the printed edition.  You can click on them to make them larger but if you choose to ignore them they blend into the page.  This may not be good news for the advertisers but it is a real plus for the reader.  Let’s hope that the intrusive ads remain on Cincinnati.comonly.

While it is a positive sign that the Enquirer is providing these online options, the key to future acceptance and success will be what they deliver, not how they deliver it. 

Cincinnati Enquirer's New Online Subscription Model

Last week The Cincinnati Enquirer began a new subscription model for those wishing to read the paper online.  Responding to the changing readership patterns fostered by a myriad of electronic devices, Cincinnati’s sole daily newspaper has adopted a model already embraced by some other major national publications.  Now those wishing to read articles online will be able to read a limited number without paying for a subscription.  In any given month that number of articles is twenty.  Want to read more that month and you must pay.

For several years, newspapers have been struggling with how to monetize delivery of online material.  In the early years of web publication, newspapers looked at online content as a novelty.  It was something that only a relatively few technically adroit readers would find useful.  Jumping ahead to 2012 we find the landscape much different.  The number of daily “paper and ink” publications is shrinking and paid readership of those still publishing is also on the wane.  Even award winning newspapers like the New Orleans Times Picayune no longer publish a hard copy version every day of the week.

Last Year the New York Times adopted this online subscription model.  I subscribe to the New York Times and can read it on my Kindle, smart phone or computer.  I have also been a subscriber to the WallStreet Journal online edition.   The latter was never offered free on line.

I signed up for the online version of the Enquirer.  So far I am impressed.  The Enquirer has adopted a point and click navigation system for reading the newspaper.   You can read the paper page by page as the online version has the same page layout and format used in the print edition.   You also have the choice of reading the articles in a regular text format.  Using this method allows you to copy and paste the article from the newspaper into a word document or email.

Unlike Cincinnati.com, the Enquirer’s website, which is filled with intrusive display ads that dominate the page and make reading articles painful, the Enquirer’s E-newspaper contains only the ads as they would be seen in the printed edition.  You can click on them to make them larger but if you choose to ignore them they blend into the page.  This may not be good news for the advertisers but it is a real plus for the reader.  Let’s hope that the intrusive ads remain on Cincinnati.com only.

While it is a positive sign that the Enquirer is providing these online options, the key to future acceptance and success will be what they deliver, not how they deliver it. 

Free Is Not Always Better

A few weeks ago the Enquirer announced that it was going to begin to charge a subscription fee for online access to the newspaper. This announcement comes as no surprise as several newspapers around the country have either already instituted subscription policies or have one that will begin shortly. Charging for online content has been a challenge for most all traditional paper and ink publications. Few have charged a fee for their publications from the very beginning of making their content available online. The Wall Street Journal is one. Those who purchased a regular subscription to the Journal were offered complete online access to the stories and articles for an extra fee. If you didn’t pay the fee you could not read the complete articles. Most other publications were not as prescient.

According to the Enquirer, there will be a limited number of free articles that can be read online every month but to read anything beyond those articles, readers will need to buy a subscription. This is the same policy that has been adopted for the New York Times. After you read 10 articles online in a one month period you, you must pay the subscription price of about $3.75 per week to continue to read.

It will be interesting to see what success the Enquirer has in adopting this pay to read policy. I have found the paper to be less relevant with actual news content decreasing. There are some days when the paper delivered to my front door looks like an advertising flyer rather than one of Gannett’s premiere publications. I fear that few will opt to pay for it. It is a downward spiral that may not be able to be arrested.

When the Internet first made it possible to get information free from major publications many began to feel that free information was part and parcel with the new online experience. Of course this is not a sustainable model. Newspapers, news magazines and TV networks pay millions of dollars to support the reporters and bureaus worldwide. This infrastructure is necessary if factual unbiased reporting is to continue. It is also expensive. If there is no revenue generated from the service it can’t survive. For years the ink and paper subscribers to newspapers where paying not only for the paper delivered to their home, they were paying for the people reading the content free on the Internet.

The fact is that someone is going to pay for the gathering and reporting of news and information. It seems to me that a user-pay system, either directly with fees from the consumer or through advertising messages is much preferable to having some third party pay for this service. As the old adage goes, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”

We are entering a new phase of access to quality online content. This will require fees and subscriptions. To me is a small price to pay for unbiased factual reporting.

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Free Is Not Always Better

A few weeks ago the Enquirer announced that it was going to begin to charge a subscription fee for online access to the newspaper. This announcement comes as no surprise as several newspapers around the country have either already instituted subscription policies or have one that will begin shortly. Charging for online content has been a challenge for most all traditional paper and ink publications. Few have charged a fee for their publications from the very beginning of making their content available online. The Wall Street Journal is one. Those who purchased a regular subscription to the Journal were offered complete online access to the stories and articles for an extra fee. If you didn’t pay the fee you could not read the complete articles. Most other publications were not as prescient.

According to the Enquirer, there will be a limited number of free articles that can be read online every month but to read anything beyond those articles, readers will need to buy a subscription. This is the same policy that has been adopted for the New York Times. After you read 10 articles online in a one month period you, you must pay the subscription price of about $3.75 per week to continue to read.

It will be interesting to see what success the Enquirer has in adopting this pay to read policy. I have found the paper to be less relevant with actual news content decreasing. There are some days when the paper delivered to my front door looks like an advertising flyer rather than one of Gannett’s premiere publications. I fear that few will opt to pay for it. It is a downward spiral that may not be able to be arrested.

When the Internet first made it possible to get information free from major publications many began to feel that free information was part and parcel with the new online experience. Of course this is not a sustainable model. Newspapers, news magazines and TV networks pay millions of dollars to support the reporters and bureaus worldwide. This infrastructure is necessary if factual unbiased reporting is to continue. It is also expensive. If there is no revenue generated from the service it can’t survive. For years the ink and paper subscribers to newspapers where paying not only for the paper delivered to their home, they were paying for the people reading the content free on the Internet.

The fact is that someone is going to pay for the gathering and reporting of news and information. It seems to me that a user-pay system, either directly with fees from the consumer or through advertising messages is much preferable to having some third party pay for this service. As the old adage goes, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”

We are entering a new phase of access to quality online content. This will require fees and subscriptions. To me is a small price to pay for unbiased factual reporting.

Click to video call me

  

ooVoo Video Chat

The Future of Newspapers

I am developing a love-hate relationship with traditional newspapers. Not too long ago I would read two or three “hard copy” newspapers each day. I read The Cincinnati Enquirer to keep up on what was happening in our area. A daily read of The Wall Street Journal was more for the in-depth reporting of significant national and international issues than for gaining any financial insight. I read The New York Times as a moderating voice to offset the leanings of the Journal. More and more I find myself drifting away from the traditional “paper and ink” format to online.

The publishers of these newspapers are not helping to keep my allegiance. The Enquirer in November sent me a notice informing me that the paper on Thanksgiving Day would be priced as a Sunday edition since it was going to be very large. Let me get this straight: I pay more because they were successful in getting more advertisements aimed at getting me to spend more money. Now our friends at Gannett inform us that the paper will soon be in a format akin to a comic book than a newspaper.

The folks at The Wall Street Journal were not much better in 2011. After almost 20 years of paying for a print subscription, the process of getting the paper to the front door of my office each morning seemed to have become too complicated, so I dropped it. Don’t get me started on the hours I spent on the phone trying to get my printed subscription converted to an on-line subscription.

Now I have to say, I have so far been lucky as the folks at The New York Times have yet to cancel my online access to the paper via my smart phone. I have several colleagues who have lost access as the Times converted to a paid subscription model only.

While all of this might sound like the insignificant complaints of an aging boomer, in reality I am worried about these trends. The Internet’s immediacy, reach, and efficiency can provide valuable news reporting but such reporting does require adequate funding and a viable business model. Today, looking through the news websites you quickly find that many are aggregating reports from major traditional newspapers and wire services. If those companies continue to shrink, where will this reporting come from?

For sure there is a place for the citizen journalist. This fact continues to be demonstrated with events in Syria and last year in Egypt and Libya. The amount of information that citizens of a democracy need to know increases daily, but it is like drinking from a fire hydrant. Having newspaper professionals do the heavy lifting of gathering, synthesizing and reporting is critical. For this to happen will require the traditional press to figure out a viable business model so they can convert to digital delivery while maintaining the integrity and value of the old model. So far this seems to be an elusive quest.

The Future of Newspapers

I am developing a love-hate relationship with traditional newspapers. Not too long ago I would read two or three “hard copy” newspapers each day. I read The Cincinnati Enquirer to keep up on what was happening in our area. A daily read of The Wall Street Journal was more for the in-depth reporting of significant national and international issues than for gaining any financial insight. I read The New York Times as a moderating voice to offset the leanings of the Journal. More and more I find myself drifting away from the traditional “paper and ink” format to online.

The publishers of these newspapers are not helping to keep my allegiance. The Enquirer in November sent me a notice informing me that the paper on Thanksgiving Day would be priced as a Sunday edition since it was going to be very large. Let me get this straight: I pay more because they were successful in getting more advertisements aimed at getting me to spend more money. Now our friends at Gannett inform us that the paper will soon be in a format akin to a comic book than a newspaper.

The folks at The Wall Street Journal were not much better in 2011. After almost 20 years of paying for a print subscription, the process of getting the paper to the front door of my office each morning seemed to have become too complicated, so I dropped it. Don’t get me started on the hours I spent on the phone trying to get my printed subscription converted to an on-line subscription.

Now I have to say, I have so far been lucky as the folks at The New York Times have yet to cancel my online access to the paper via my smart phone. I have several colleagues who have lost access as the Times converted to a paid subscription model only.

While all of this might sound like the insignificant complaints of an aging boomer, in reality I am worried about these trends. The Internet’s immediacy, reach, and efficiency can provide valuable news reporting but such reporting does require adequate funding and a viable business model. Today, looking through the news websites you quickly find that many are aggregating reports from major traditional newspapers and wire services. If those companies continue to shrink, where will this reporting come from?

For sure there is a place for the citizen journalist. This fact continues to be demonstrated with events in Syria and last year in Egypt and Libya. The amount of information that citizens of a democracy need to know increases daily, but it is like drinking from a fire hydrant. Having newspaper professionals do the heavy lifting of gathering, synthesizing and reporting is critical. For this to happen will require the traditional press to figure out a viable business model so they can convert to digital delivery while maintaining the integrity and value of the old model. So far this seems to be an elusive quest.