Online Content, News Papers etc

What’s up with Newspapers?

A lot of talk on future of newspapers seems to be unfolding with each passing day. The answer so far seems to be two things (atleast in the recent days):

Paywalls - One by one all seems to be going behind paywalls, the models may be different, charges are different. First it was Financial Times and WSJ, then came Newsday (owned by Cablevision) and plans by NYTimes to do the same and now followed by The Times of London and Sunday Times (both operated by News Corp, same as WSJ) which will soon go behind a pay wall in June.
iPad to the rescue – Many Newspapers/sites have reported plans to release iPad versions of Newspapers. WSJ for example plans to charge $17.99 a month for iPad edition. Bloomberg reports that WSJ & Times have even sold packages to Advertisers for handsome amounts (atleast in today’s terms).

The Journal, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., has sold four-month ad packages to Coca-Cola Co. and FedEx Corp. for $400,000, the newspaper said, citing the people. Coke and FedEx declined to comment on the terms.

Time Warner Inc.’s Time magazine has signed up advertisers including Toyota Motor Corp., Unilever NV and FMR LLC for single ad spots that cost $200,000, the Journal said.

Will this be enough, we will know soon.

Taking The Tablet: 15 Ways Publishers Are Re-Imagining The Magazine

PaidContent has interesting collection of videos on how Magazine Publishers are beginning to ideate the perfect iPad (or Tablet) Magazine App.

While each takes advantage of the touch screen to, at the least, replicate the tactile experience of flicking through a magazine, visions for the digital mag vary somewhat, coalescing around five key trends…

Print shovelware: Those that merely recreate the page-turning experience on the digital screen.

Interactive editions: They’re recognisably a magazine, but navigation and animation really take advantage of what is essentially a screen.

Motion-heavy mags: Co-produced by film makers, they’re as much a video narrative as a magazine.

Web shells: Lazy apps that merely funnel through a publication’s existing website.

Live info: Divorced from monthly print cycle, an article can take advantage of the real-time web.

News site Ad Revenues – Some numbers

There is a great debate going on between Reuters blogger Felix Salmon and Business Insider’s Henry Blodget. You can follow the debate, here, here and here. Anyways, what I wanted to point out was some great Ad Revenu numbers for a general news site.

Ad revenue for a general news site tend to range from $3-$6 per thousand pages.
Ad revs for a business or premium site can run $10-$20 per thousand pages.
For Gossip or general news site, the revenue per thousand pages is far lower.