Newspapers are moving toward providing a greater digital experience for users amid the implementation of paywalls, however a report by Experian Hitwise demonstrates the possible issues involved in a paid digital structure.
The Australian is set to implement its paywall soon with many mastheads including The Sydney Morning Herald, following suit. A report, released by Experian Hitwise on Monday, demonstrated that when it comes to visiting paywall sites the British Financial Times was more popular to Australians than The Australian Financial Review.
Experian general manager of marketing services Matt Glasner told AdNews: “The biggest challenge facing paid for/subscription based Australian media lies in the publication of exclusive content.
"The Financial Times has a global footprint that many others can't compete with. It has a team of journalists on the ground in every key market providing quality reporting on events that are impacting the business world. This adds to its reputation for providing quality journalism that people are prepared to pay for.
“To succeed, paid Australian print websites need to explore how they can provide more exclusive and engaging content and do so in such a way that allows people to get a taste of the content before they make the step to sign-up.”
Fairfax metro commercial director Ed Harrison told AdNews: “People will pay for online content where it's unique and of high enough quality, they will also – equally importantly – pay for convenience. We do not look at our online paid-for content strategy in isolation, but think about multiple platforms and devises. If we deliver an outstanding user experience via content, choice, functionality and convenience, then we believe it's possible to charge.
“Advertising will remain the predominant revenue stream in newspapers and online for some time to come. We will not implement paid-for content initiatives that compromise our ability to deliver large audiences to both advertisers and our own transactional and classified businesses,” Harrison said.
The Experian Hitwise report, which AdNews reported on Monday, claimed that The Age was the most viewed newspaper website in the country, followed by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Herald Sun and The Australian.
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