Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Magazines may suffer from newspaper paywalls
Good post from Peter Kirwan of Press Gazette on the potential revenue generated from newspaper paywalls (based on some actual numbers and calculations!) and the possibility that this might, somehow, damage magazines.
Kirwan's thesis that the success of paywalls will depend on providing niche content that appeals to specific groups/communities of interest is undoubtedly correct; his observation that many magazine publishers can't or won't engage properly with the digital platform is also correct; but will gigantic beasts such as newspapers really be able to cover the full spectrum of magazine interests? That's probably not right. However, the big beasts of B2B might need to pull their fingers out. On the other hand Reed Business Information, surely the biggest beast in this field, is already well engaged with digital.
Kirwan's thesis that the success of paywalls will depend on providing niche content that appeals to specific groups/communities of interest is undoubtedly correct; his observation that many magazine publishers can't or won't engage properly with the digital platform is also correct; but will gigantic beasts such as newspapers really be able to cover the full spectrum of magazine interests? That's probably not right. However, the big beasts of B2B might need to pull their fingers out. On the other hand Reed Business Information, surely the biggest beast in this field, is already well engaged with digital.
Labels: B2B, community, digital revenue, magazines, political economy
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