Key Executives Mega Conference: Paid Content

Paid Content
Key Executives Mega-Conference
Matt Sokoloff, Reynolds Fellow
@MattSokoloff

University of Missouri Missouri School of Journalism

Paid Content Building a
Marketing
for Local Paid Content
Your Product
News Product


Paid Content Model Adoption

•In 2012 nearly half of all newspapers
surveyed charge users for content.
Source: 2012 Daily Newspaper Publishers Annual Index,
Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute


Tipping Point for Paid Content

•Early estimates show that more than
half of the nations dailies require users
to pay for content as of today


Smaller Papers Lead the Way

Source: 2012 Daily Newspaper Publishers Annual Index, Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute


Most NP Groups Adopt Paid Models


Setting the Meter

Source: 2012 Daily Newspaper Publishers Annual Index, Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute


No Revenue Impact
•Page Views down but sometimes
recover

•Loss usually just remnant inventory
•Shifting sold inventory may have
been required

•Subscriptions easily make up any
difference

•No ones reported net revenue loss

Success?
•Immediate revenue needs
•Small percentage of active online
users are now subscribers (print)

•Necessary but not sufficient
•A digital paid content model
doesn’t mean you have a digital
product


Build a Digital Product
• Solve a problem and/or provide a real
benefit for your users

• Need to sell more than “All Access”
• Designate and remind users that your
content is unique

• Your newsroom isn’t representative
• Traffic doesn’t mean users will pay for it

What’s behind the wall?
• About 70% of surveyed sites are charging
for breaking news or wire stories

• Better off putting less behind the wall
but setting the meter lower

• Less than 15% charge for tablet or mobile
products

• People are more used to paying for
tablet and mobile products
Source: 2012 Daily Newspaper Publishers Annual Index,
Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute


Change from Page Views to Quality

•You may have lots of people on
your site but they might be the
wrong people

•Goals in the newsroom need to
change

•Build franchises and sub-brands that
you can monetize


Paid Content Matrix
Premium
Watchdog Obits
Columnist A
Community Local In Depth
News Coverage Local
Uniqueness

Columnist B Event Listings Sports

Classifieds Breaking News
Commodity

Photo Galleries
Weather
TV Listings Wire Stories
Low High
Interest

Examples


SiriusXM


SiriusXM
• Paywall at zero
• Free Trials to get you hooked
• Premium/Exclusive content
• Commodity content with a benefit
• Tiered Pricing
• Aggressive marketing
• Understand the lifetime value of a
subscriber


Hulu+

• Show/Brand specific
• Other sites offer recent shows for free
• Hulu+
• Entire season
• All Devices
• Original Programing

Hulu+
Premium
Original Devices
Programing All Episodes
Uniqueness
Commodity

HD Recent Episodes

Low High
Interest

Consumer Reports


Premium
Consumer Reports
Ratings Guides
Uniqueness

Expert Reviews
Consumer News
Commodity

Low High
Interest

Subscription Based Sites

•ESPN Insider
•Netflix
•eHarmony
•WeightWatchers
•DailyBurn


Tiered Approach — Chicago Tribune

• Non-subscriber - Commodity
content

• DigitalLITE (free registration) -
Metered premium content

• DigitalPlus (paid) - Access to
all premium content, apps,
achieves, e-books, events

• Built a funnel to paid
subscriber

• Capturing e-mail on
prospects


E-Commerce Funnel
Branding/
Prospecting

Awareness

Consideration

Intent
Purchase

Awareness
• Drive to landing page
• On site messaging
• Icons for exclusive
content

• Designating paid users in
comments

• Promote content behind
the Pay Wall

• Paid online ads (monitor
CPA)


Consideration
• Drive to checkout
• Expressed
interest...convince them
to purchase

• Landing page MUST
match how they got there

• Ad creative
• Content type
• Online Display Re-
marketing


Landing Page
Optimization
•Tease content
•Benefits clearly
explained

•Signup ATF
•No navigation
•A/B test and track
everything


Intent
• Drive to purchase
• Make it easy
• Capture e-mail asap
• Test & Track cart abandonment
• Re-marketing and e-mail follow
up

• Lowest CPA
• Remind them what they are
getting

• Only as good as the weakest link

Smart Prospecting
•Drive new users to your site who will
eventually subscribe

•Market to lookalike purchasers
•Find users who don’t regularly visit
•Track everything
•Determine the best entry point

Metrics to track

•Lifetime Value of a Subscriber (LTV)
— Crucial number to determine how
much money you can spend
acquiring members

•Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) — Ensure
that CPA stays below LTV.


Metrics Cont.
• Conversion Rate
• Overall, landing page, traffic source,
marketing campaign, demographic

• Useful for
• Setting newsroom and marketing
goals

• Understanding what content to put
behind the wall


Invest in Technology, People & Ideas

• Technology — Build, buy or partner to test,
track and manage the relationship with
your customers

• People — Invest in people internally and
externally who are focused on growing
your digital subscription products

• Ideas — The fourth most serious threat to
newspapers according to publishers is lack
of resources to develop new products (only
after declining ad revenue, circulation,
print readership)


RJI’s Efforts
•Marketing Case Studies
•Paid Content Best Practices and
Guides

•Paid Content Research and
Database

•RJIOnline.org

Matt Sokoloff
SokoloffM@RJIOnline.org
@MattSokoloff


Key Executives Mega Conference: Paid Content

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