Why paywalls fail to cross borders | Jun22 |
I was asked today if I’d consider subscribing to The Times (of London) now that they’ve moved behind a paywall. My answer was no. In a similar vein, I completed The Guardian‘s iPhone app customer survey, in which many of the questions probed the app user’s willingness to pay for a subscription model. I gave them an ample response (which they probably didn’t want) explaining why I felt they needed an international approach to their strategy.
In short, these news organisation produce some brilliant content for international customers, but all too often it’s buried underneath masses of content that interest only an audience in the UK . Unlike many of my Trinity College classmates, I don’t particularly care about the minutiae of number 10, but rather want my British politics painted in the same broad strokes with which I observe other global powers. Equally (and The Times is particularly bad at this) I don’t want my otherwise enjoyable features reading to be peppered with allusions to “the great British insert-topic-here.” It’s almost as if a sub-editor comes along and looks at each piece, and saying “ah, we’ve missed an opportunity to insert a reference about fish and chips at Cornwall”, inserts some edits.
Online media represents an opportunity for the very best media companies to offer their non-local content to a global audience. I’d pay for the Guardian’s columnists or The Times’ internationally-relevant investigative work. But I won’t pay for the privilege of hunting through localised content to do so. These companies need to provide alternate international sites and applications that prioritise content in different ways. Then, maybe I’ll feel that as an Irish man, I can justify the expense.
Posted by Dave Molloy in •Business •Journalism