Comments on: Newspaper sales – a way forward?

By: louise

louise — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:03:45 +0000

Glyn, you raise some good points. Adding more mags into the mix, which NI seems to be doing now, is one way to improve the offer – the bigger the selection the better the take-up rate will be. Likewise, allowing people to collect their subscription print issue physically from any shop adds more flexibility.

I do wonder if it will ever be rolled out beyond London. I can see it working in other urban conglomerations – Manchester, Brum, Leeds, Glasgow, for example – but it would be a lot harder to make it work in smaller towns or rural areas.

It’s a start, though.

It’s just one result of some creative thinking. Come up with some more ideas for bringing back paying readers that don’t involve paywalls and papers may find new business models with which to survive.

By: Glyn

Glyn — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:54:17 +0000

I do think this is missing the point a bit – I can get some magazines I don’t want with a newspaper I’ll buy from time to time. Don’t thinks so – now if they added something like .net mag into the mix (displaying my geek tendencies there a bit).

@Dilyan why is that a pipe dream – if I can get it on my Kindle/Mac Tablet/Blackberry 24 hours and benefit from the intelligence that way as well as getting a print edition which I could pick up from any outlet (via my subscription, in the way you can top up your mobile just about anwywhere) then I’d be pretty impressed and go for it.

@Jo would be a good idea to survey, and doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

But again – this is London centric, what about the rest of the UK. London buyers will not save the world.

By: links for 2009-09-24 | Joanna Geary

links for 2009-09-24 | Joanna Geary — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:02:02 +0000

[...] Newspaper sales – a way forward? "Rolling out this kind of option further afield and offering more magazines alongside could be a winner when it comes to encouraging readers to return to a paper. I know that such a scheme within the boundaries of the M60 and offering a good selection of magazines alongside would certainly get my vote – and my cash." (tags: business newspapers) Share this [...]

By: Joanna Geary

Joanna Geary — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:27:51 +0000

I believe it is vans, but I don’t know much more than that I’m afraid.

By: louise

louise — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:03:19 +0000

And right on cue, Paid Content has published this snippet on subscriptions to multiple platforms…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/sep/24/charging-for-content-digital-media

By: Dilyan

Dilyan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:55:42 +0000

I’ll tell you what will get me excited — a subscription that will deliver my favourite magazines to an address I can change at any time online and at a time that I can specify any time online, and which also enables me to access the content on any platform I choose: print, PC, gadgets… I do realise it is just a beautiful dream.

By: louise

louise — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:48:01 +0000

I’d love to know this too. I can’t get a paper delivered in south Manchester as none of the half-dozen newsagents in my area (all at least 8 mins away on foot, some more like 10) don’t do paper rounds any more. I’m willing to bet it’s because a) it’s poorly paid and kids get more generous pocket money now than I was a child and b) because parents are more protective now.

NI is guaranteeing delivery by 7am, within the M25. It must be by van. And presumably it’s financially feasible if they are expanding the publication choice.

If anyone from NI is reading this and knows how it’s done, do share!

By: Jo Wadsworth

Jo Wadsworth — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:26:52 +0000

I’m most interested to know how the deliveries are being made. Are they going the traditional route of hiring schoolkids? If so, they’ll be coming up against exactly the same issue newsagents and those local newspapers which already have their own distribution network set up do – a lot of parents just aren’t willing to let their kids out on the streets alone anymore, and most kids’ pocketmoney now means they don’t feel the need to take on poorly paid rounds any more.

Ironically, those locals/regionals which set up these networks were even more badly hit when they were forced to shift to morning publication – but were and are still delivering their papers to a sizeable chunk of their customers at 5pm.

But back to NI – surely the cost of paying adults a reasonable rate to do this would make it too expensive an exercise?

By: Joanna Geary

Joanna Geary — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:36:55 +0000

I am going to confess a terrible secret. For the past four mornings I have browsed a beaten-up copy of OK magazine while eating my breakfast. I picked it up last weekend after it was left behind on the train by the woman sitting opposite me.

I’m reading it because it’s something to read in the morning, not because I’m enjoying it that much. At that very specific time of day I don’t want a screen because I know I’ll just start checking emails and feeds and I’ll be late for work.

I’ve often thought it would be good for me to put my predisposition to read at breakfast to good use. If if made me smarter and more informed, I would even consider paying for it! Early delivery (if I didn’t live on a boat) would suit me down to the ground in that case.

Sarah: I’m surprised at how dismissive you’re being about the printed format!

Yes, as we have more platforms on which to deliver news, it is inevitable that, with all its limitations, print will not be the best way to consume news in many situations.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s utterly obsolete (yet). There are times when print still works extremely well.

I guess it’s in the interests of news organisations to deliver content on a platform that suits the consumer at that particular moment in their day.

Under these circumstances, early print deliveries seem to make sense.

By: louise

louise — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:53:30 +0000

From what I understood, the additional publications you can get delivered with the Times are not free – you still have to pay for them. You just get them delivered at no cost, saving a trip to the newsagent to pick them. It’s anyone’s guess what Murdoch is planning but this scheme appeals to me. In a world where you can buy anything over the internet and have it delivered to your door – groceries, books, clothes, CDs, furniture – why not your paper of choice plus the mags you read regularly? And given the almost universal opposition to Murdoch’s proposed paywall, could this be a way for him to step back from it?