Why the News Ltd paywall is important in

contemporary media? GAO Chen (3310551) ZHANG Wenjing (3324218) XUE Bai (3319173) LIU Jie (3316470)

Outline:

★Introduce Rupert Murdoch and the News Ltd paywall ★Critical analysis of how relevant online media is to paywall

★Critical analysis of how important paywall is to the development of online media

★Summary

Questions:

Rupert Murdoch

◆ Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-American media mogul.

◆ Rupert Murdoch is the founder and CEO of News Corporation which was establised in 1979. News Corp was created as a holding company for News Limited.

News Limited is an Australian newspaper publisher, which has been wholly owned by News Corporation. It operates many metropolitan, regional and community newspaper and their websites in Australia, such as The Australian, The daily telegraph, the advertiser, weekly times…

The News Ltd paywall

“Quality journalism is not cheap.The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels,but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news websites." Murdoch said.

In 2009, Rupert Murdoch’s news corporation had financial loss; he aimed to improve the situation of newspaper industry, announced he would take the risk of leading his companies’ online news towards a pay-per-view model.

The News Ltd paywall

The Times and the Sunday Times which are owned by News Corporation, started to charged for online news in June 2010. Readers need to pay £1 for a day's access, £2 for a week's subscription.

“Paywall strategy is less of a risk than just throwing away our journalism and giving it away for free," editor of The Times, James Harding said.

What is the price point?

◆ Traditional news industry keeps dropping because of the Internet

◆ Information is available and free everywhere

Who is willing to pay?

How Paywall will affect News Ltd

1.New Model

2.Revenue

3.Audience

Conclusion

1 advantage of paywall

2 disadvantage of paywall

3 methods to make paywall accepted

4 future view of paywall

Advantage

1.Readers can read both the online and printed version for one price.

2. Encouraging quality journalism

Disadvantage

1. Reducing readership

2. Eliminating ad revenue from user-forwarded content.

Methods to make paywall accepted

1.Making a newspaper an expert on one aspect If there is good, in- depth coverage, such as a serious focus on education, local sports teams or specific companies and other issues readers care about, they are going to feel better about paying for that digital content.

2.Targeting a small audience

As an example, Politico, the free Web site and newspaper which offers $2,495-a-year subscriptions for in-depth coverage of subjects. True, only a small audience will spend that kind of money, but, at that price they don't need much more. they can build a base around a very small audience willing to pay.

3. Making more offerings

Publishers could make some packages such as $33.95 per month: the print edition + full access to the paper's Web site. $ 9.99 per month: subscriptions to iPhone, iPad and e-editions of the paper.

Future view

In fact, the current condition of paywall is not as pessimist as people thought. readers are amazingly understanding because they've read about the layoffs in the industry; They don't want newspaper to disappear.

So paywall could embrace a prominent future if only publishers use it in creative ways.

Question:

Are you going to pay for the topic you are very interested in but could only get in-depth reports by paying online?

Reference

1.http://www.nndb.com/people/420/000023351/2. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=K._Rupert_Murdoch3. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/mar/29/the-times-digital-subscribers4.http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/07/rupert-murdoch-charging-websites5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8588432.stm6.http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/06/rupert-murdoch-website-charges7.http://content.ebscohost.com/pdf25_26/pdf/2011/WJR/01Apr11/59415684.pdf?T=P&P=AN&K=59415684&S=R&D=ufh&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHr7ESeqLA4y9f3OLCmr0mepq5Sr6q4TLCWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGvr1GxrbZNuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA

8. http://anewkindofmarketing.utalkmarketing.com/taking-advantage-of-digital-murdoch-might-be-on-to-something…/9.http://postsalotspeaks.com/2010/01/why-the-pay-per-view-news-site-model-wont-work/#more-2910. http://nikhilkuruganti.blogspot.com/2011/01/affluent-gen-y-hooked-on-social-media.html11. http://www.digital-media.net.au/article/New-hire-strengthens-News-Ltd-paywall-push/519860.aspx12. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/paywall-on-way-for-the-australian-20110125-1a494.html13. http://www.wolf21.com/blog/online-news-paywalls-impact-advertisers/14.http://www.bandt.com.au/news/daily-tele-website-readied-for-paywall