Paywalls: Golden Goose or Brand Killer? Kristi Dougherty 1105 Media Public Sector Group AAMP 2014 Conference
Paywalls: Brick by Brick 1997: Wall Street Journal 2010: The Times (London), Financial Times, Variety* 2011: New York Times, The Onion 2013: Weekly World News, Toronto Star, Sports Illustrated, Esquire* Commonalities: Authority/expertise; niche/specialized content
Paywall-able Success Factors • • • • • •
Unique, vertical, regional content Authority/expertise Audience support Editorial buy in Limited/no site traffic concerns Ad sales education
Types of Paywalls • Hard
Requires paid subscription for ALL content
• Combination
Open access to select content, premium content behind a paywall
• Soft/Metered
Access to a specific number of articles before requiring a paid subscription
Times of London Hard Paywall Model
Wall Street Journal Combination Paywall Model
New York Times Soft Paywall Model
Case Study #1: Washington Technology Strengths • Strong website traffic • Loyal audience • Trusted brand in marketplace • No direct competitors Challenge • Shift in ad spend/decline in ad revenue
Timeline & Strategy Nov-Dec 2012 Research, modeling, budget Jan-Feb 2013 Programmer and ad sales meetings Audience interviews Feb-Mar 2013 Site design, CMS tags built, prelim marketing, and fulfillment vendor prep April 2013 Launch
Selling the Concept • Editorial buy in • Interviewed audience and took feedback on options & pricing • Ad sales team education ahead of launch on how to sell around paywall • Integrated marketing campaign
Marketing Strategy • • • • • •
Mystery emails 3 weeks prior to launch House ads on site and in PSMG brands Continued emails around benefits Post-expire efforts Price testing Development of enterprise members
WT Combination Paywall
Why Did WT Work? • • • • •
Specialized marketplace content No direct competitors Authoritative market voice/EIC Loyal audience Low online ad sales volume – no traffic concerns • Ad sales focused on events & lead gen
Case Study #2: Federal Soup Strengths • Forums traffic • Loyal audience • Trusted brand in marketplace • Rapid growth in ad revenue Challenges • Many free competitors • Muddled brand history in last five years • Poor understanding of audience price point
Timeline & Strategy Oct-Dec 2013 Research, modeling, budget Jan-Mar 2014 Programmer and ad sales meetings Feb-Mar 2014 Site redesign, CMS tags built, prelim marketing, and fulfillment vendor prep April 2014 Launch
Selling the Concept • Editorial buy in • Ad sales team education ahead of launch on how to sell around paywall • Integrated marketing campaign *What’s missing? – Audience Input!
Marketing Strategy Full blown marketing blitz: Metro billboards Radio ads Event booth Direct mail Emails List rental for direct mail and emails House ads Positive market feedback but NO ORDERS
FS Combination Paywall
Why Did FS Sort of Work? • Unique concept of topic research plus content development • Expansion of access to popular content • Retention of existing audience (somewhat) • Expansion of traffic from forums across site to increase ad impressions/ad revenue support of brand
Why Did FS Sort of NOT Work? • • • • •
No audience research! Over-reliance on brand history “If you build it, they will come” Difficult marketplace for paid content Numerous free competitors
Getting Started • Plan for 3-12 months process • Involve your audience! • Build pricing models/worst case/best case scenarios • Test all programming – a lot • Assess impact to traffic vs ad sales • Don’t do it in desperation! Make it a win-win for you and the audience
Top 3 Considerations • Content management – how will you gate? Programming considerations Metering vendors • Site design – how does audience know about gates? Mark gated content? Blocker page/landing page Ad skins • Subscriber access – should be instant! Can your fulfillment provider handle? Password – automatic or self generated eNL vs subscriber access vs resource access
Send me your questions! Kristi Dougherty
[email protected] (720) 387-8468
