13 de mar. de 2010

Are digital editions killing printed newspapers?

Deu no Guardian:


"Are digital editions killing printed newspapers, too fast?


• Year-on-year sales of national dailies down 4.42%
• FT records 15% rise in number of online subscribers in a year


A snowy, frozen February isn't exactly sprint forward time for newspapers sales – and they didn't: national dailies down 4.42% year on year, and Sundays 6.19%. The decision to drop bulk giveaways a few months back makes the comparative situation more difficult to read, of course. But there two are particular talking points to ponder over two particular figures. Here's The Guardian, suddenly down 5.88% on January's ABC result, and an article in PC Pro magazine praising its app as "the blueprint for newspaper mobiles … so good, we've stopped buying the newspaper".

And here's the FT, boasting 126,000 subscribers clustered behind its paywall, up 15% in a year (and 43% in revenues garnered). But look at its UK full-price sales, down to 63,722 (from 79,153 a year ago). Paid up, or free? Maybe, once you've forked out £158 to jump over the FT wall, you don't see much reason to pay £2 for a print copy. Maybe a £2.39 app produces exactly the same result, coming from a quite different direction. Discommoding things are beginning to happen too fast."

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