Newspapers’ Floundering Online Ventures

Newspapers evolved out of the need for people to communicate and give account of events as they unfold in communities. The world over, the newspaper industry has become very vibrant and this vibrancy has evolved into the use of the internet platform to deliver news on real time basis. Going online has created more opportunities for newspapers, such as competing with broadcast journalism in presenting breaking news in a timelier manner. Buki Oyedemi writes that despite this breakthrough, well acclaimed online newspapers fail due to pricing, also known as pay walls, placed on online content.

Failed Attempts
Going by information available on www.cnet.com, in 2007, The New York Times after two years of introducing the newspaper’s online site gave up on the web subscription model due to the online medium’s failure to meet the company’s projections as the subscriber revenue “was small compared with the advertising sales”. Though the online medium charged $49.95 a year or $7.95 a month for internet access to premium content such as articles by columnists and some archived stories, it still could not garner enough revenue and finally put paid to the online subscription platform.
Following the decision by The New York Times to ditch its online subscription platform, The Wall Street Journal became the only major newspaper in the United States charging for content. This was however short-lived as the parent company, Dow Jones, soon began deliberating whether or not to drop its subscription service. The company finally did.
“In October 2009,” according to www.blogingstocks.com, “Newsday towed the path of the giant US papers.” What was however astonishing was that three months later the newspaper realised that only 35 people who were willing to pay $5 a week to browse a website that cost a whooping sum of $4 million to redesign and relaunch. With a total revenue of $9,000 in three months, the pay wall was ‘removed’ and content on the website became free for all.”
Coming home to Nigeria, Punch Newspapers, the most widely read newspaper in Nigeria, introduced Punch-on-the-web, Punch Mobile and Punch Online. The services which were made available to the public were to be paid for. Despite much publicity and the introduction of scratch cards to allow for easier access, M2 gathers that these online platforms have been scraped.

What Went Wrong?
Explaining that many people all over the world are of the opinion that online content should be free, Shina Badaru, Editor of Technology Times, says this world wide notion is a contributing factor to failed online subscription for newspapers and magazines. “A lot of people are of the libertarian view that information on the internet must be free. Not that the concept of charging for content is a bad idea, but the question any average individual will ask is why will he have to pay for the same content he already has on the hard copy.” This opinion was validated when after conducting a verbal interview with 30 people, only one expressed willingness to pay for online content. The reason being that many feel it is a waste of money if they have to pay twice to get a not-so-new piece of information.
Blaming the low patronage on the Nigerian factor, Ademola Oladosu, Manager, Adverts & Promotions for Broad Street Journal says the fact that only few Nigerians have access to the Internet reduces the number of people that can take up subscriptions for online publications. “Accessing the Internet in Western countries and even some African countries is free but here, the reverse is the case. This is attributed to the fact that some of our internet providers are conniving with the leaders to make people pay so much and ‘enjoy’ low quality service.
Badaru agrees with Oladosu emphasizing that “the online market in Nigeria is still dramatically or drastically low for you to be able to push a compelling case for people to come and pay for content on a newspaper’s site. Take for instance out of about 120 million people, the most who have access to the internet will fall between ten to eleven million.” Oladosu’s opinion is that the Nigerian online market is not ripe for exploration.

The Way to Go
Identifying and filling a need is an important entrepreneurial lesson newspapers have to imbibe if they hope to make their online subscription ventures a success. There is a critical need to develop creative content that will serve as a point of attraction to visitors to the site. In Oladosu’s opinion, one of the strategies that can be employed to ensure traffic is consumer engagement. Using 234NEXT as a case study, Oladosu says “If you log on to Next, you will always find something new. The amount of traffic on that site is amazing because the moment a news piece is updated, people respond almost immediately and that is enough evidence that people are reading.”
Badaru corroborates this by saying that the online medium has to give people a compelling reason to keep coming back: “I still believe that the media houses that will succeed in the online media market will be those that create more diversity. Once you are able to keep them locked in, readership base will soar, ultimately affecting the revenue of the newspaper.” He goes on to say that “constantly updating and creating diversity will constantly encourage users to keep coming back. So it’s going to be a traffic battle”.
While making a case for online only publications, Badaru explains that this is probably the way to go because there is a huge investment that goes into distributing any publication. “A publication that adopts the strategy to become online alone will find out that that huge investment into distribution is out of it. All they have to focus on is creating creative and compelling content and the advertisers will keep knocking.” If a publication decides to adopt this medium Badaru emphasises that apart from creating quality and engaging content, attention has to be focused on broadband infrastructure which is just gaining ground in Nigeria. “If broadband issues are resolved such that internet connection can be acquired at a fraction of what we pay for it today, more people will buy into it. The basic building bloc will be that we all have access to broad band with high speed internet”.
It will be appropriate to say that online publication will succeed if the right strategies are put in place. Another strategy that might lead to the success of online newspaper subscription is its being made an industry wide decision. Badaru prompts that “if it is an industry wide decision where people know that they can’t read any newspaper or magazine online content for free, they will choose one of them and pay.” It seems obvious that it will be a tough battle for an individual newspaper to single handedly decide that people should pay for its online content. “You cannot work in isolation,” he says.
Conventional newspaper publications that want to increase their revenue base by becoming online subscription based need to take cognizance of the following points M2 gathered from an online source:
An interest in a print (free or paid) does not guarantee that the curiosity will carry over to a website (free or paid)
The publication or channel needs to provide teasers (more on this investigative story online!) and incentives (register online and get a month’s subscription for free!) to draw people to a website.
People will not pay for website access when they already pay for a print publication.
Those who will pay for their news, particularly during a deep recession, will more likely be people with higher levels of disposable income.
So-called “interchangeable news” wire reports, major stories, and general-interest articles that vary little from one media outlet to the next will slowly disappear.
Going by expert opinions, online versions are not likely to oust traditional newspapers as people still want hard copies of publications of their choice. What can aid in keeping the online flag flying is publishers or custodians devising new means of engaging the public. This will not only drive readership for online versions but will also reflect on the revenue the online ventures can generate for media entrepreneurs, which is likely to fuel efficiency. The message that media entrepreneurs must take is that advertisers are watching and only the medium that can ensure maximum exposure will be considered.