a la carte ou pas?
DESCRIPTION
Presentation by Valérie-Anne Bleyen and Leo Van Hove. FLEET-workshop Paying For News, 19th of March, 2009.http://www.fleetproject.be/nl/home/paying-for-news-workshop/TRANSCRIPT
Valérie-Anne Bleyen - Leo Van Hove
19 March 2009
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
SESSION 3: A LA CARTE OU PAS?
-2/18-
OUR RESEARCH
- EVOLUTIONS IN THE ONLINE REVENUE
MODELS FOR ‘TRADITIONAL’ CONTENT
- 2 MAIN RESEARCH QUESTIONS (RELATED)
- FREE OR FEE?- ACCESS OPTIONS TO THE SITE?
OUR SCOPE: NATIONAL NPS - WE
• Period June-July 2006 and 2008• 82 newspapers > 8 countries• All national, daily paid-for newspapers
Belgium (9) - the Netherlands (8) - Luxembourg (6)- France (11) - Germany (10) - Italy (20) - Spain (8)- the United Kingdom (10)
• Listing conform WAN-report (2006) & nationalcoordinating organisations
• Not: - regional and local newspapers- freely distributed newspapers - overly specific target audience
DATA COLLECTION = SELECTIVE BUT EXHAUSTIVE
-4/18-
AGENDA
I. DEFINITIONS
II. MAIN FINDINGS
III. CONCLUSION
-5/18-
I. THE ‘FREE OR FEE’-DILEMMA
THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND OUR APPROACH IS BASED ON THE NATURE OF THE REVENUE MODEL:
“DO NEWSPAPERS TRY TO MONETISE THEIR ONLINE CONTENT:
• DIRECTLY (by charging for content)
• INDIRECTLY (through advertising revenues)?”
-6/18-
I. THE ‘FREE OR FEE’-DILEMMA
FREE
= COMPLETELY FREE WEBSITE
= ALL THE NEWS, COLUMNS AND
ARCHIVED ARTICLES (IF
AVAILABLE) CAN BE CONSULTED
FREE OF CHARGE
FEE
= SOME CONTENT IS CHARGEDFOR
- FEE LIGHT= only a charged-for PDF-version= rather ‘traditional’ approach
- FEE+= something else/more than acharged-for PDF-version
-7/18-
I. UN-BUNDLED ACCESS OPTIONS
1. DAY PASS AND X-DAYS PASSA day pass gives complete access to the website for 24 hours. One can thus consult all the online articles for one day. A variant on the day pass method is the X-days pass, which gives access to the site for X number of days.
2. CREDITS-‘CARD’ (OR WALLET)Here the visitor of the site buys X credits at a certain price. With this card he subsequently pays one or more credits per article (often depending on the length of the article), after which the amount is deducted from the card’s balance.
3. PAY-PER-VIEWThis access option gives the opportunity to purchase and pay for articles on an individual basis.
BUNDLING
-8/18-
AGENDA
I. DEFINITIONS
II. MAIN FINDINGS
III. CONCLUSION
II. MAIN FINDINGS: FREE OR FEE?
2006 2008 In % of tot a l
FR E E FEE L IG H T FE E+ FR E E FEE L IG H T FE E+ BE 11.1 33.3 55.6 22.2 33.3 44.4 NL 25 37.5 37.5 12.5 37.5 50 LU 33.3 16.7 50 33.3 66.7 0 FR 9.1 9.1 81.8 18.2 18.2 63.6 DE 20 40 40 10 40 50 IT 30 15 55 35 30 35 E S 0 25 75 25 25 50 UK 20 20 60 40 40 20
TOT 19.5 23.2 57.3 25.6 34.1 40.2
• 32 out of 82 nps ∆ strategy• Evolution 1: Move from FEE to FREE
- 23 towards FREE; 9 towards a paying site- FREE nps (country level: everywhere except in NL and DE)
II. MAIN FINDINGS: FREE OR FEE?
2006 2008 In % of tot a l
FR E E FEE L IG H T FE E+ FR E E FEE L IG H T FE E+ BE 11.1 33.3 55.6 22.2 33.3 44.4 NL 25 37.5 37.5 12.5 37.5 50 LU 33.3 16.7 50 33.3 66.7 0 FR 9.1 9.1 81.8 18.2 18.2 63.6 DE 20 40 40 10 40 50 IT 30 15 55 35 30 35 E S 0 25 75 25 25 50 UK 20 20 60 40 40 20
TOT 19.5 23.2 57.3 25.6 34.1 40.2
• Evolution 2: Within FEE, a move from FEE+ to FEE LIGHT
- FEE LIGHT (country level: nowhere a decrease)- FEE+
• 2 evolutions go in same direction
-11/18-
II. MAIN FINDINGS: FREE OR FEE?
2006 2008 In % of tot a l
FR E E FEE L IG H T FE E+ FR E E FEE L IG H T FE E+ BE 11.1 33.3 55.6 22.2 33.3 44.4 NL 25 37.5 37.5 12.5 37.5 50 LU 33.3 16.7 50 33.3 66.7 0 FR 9.1 9.1 81.8 18.2 18.2 63.6 DE 20 40 40 10 40 50 IT 30 15 55 35 30 35 E S 0 25 75 25 25 50 UK 20 20 60 40 40 20
TOT 19.5 23.2 57.3 25.6 34.1 40.2
• On a country level:
BE: 77.8% S.Q. NL: 75% S.Q. 11.1% FEE LIGHT towards FREE 12.5% FEE LIGHT towards FEE+ 11.1% FEE+ towards FEE LIGHT 12.5% FREE towards FEE LIGHT
II. MAIN FINDINGS: SUBSCRIPTIONS VS. PPV
2006 2008 In % of
total N.A. ON L Y ON L SUB
ON L Y UNB
BOTH N.A. ON L Y ON L SUB
ON L Y UNB
BOTH
BE 11.1 33.3 0 55.6 22.2 33.3 0 44.4 NL 25 12.5 12.5 50 12.5 37.5 0 50 LU 33.3 33.3 0 33.3 33.3 66.7 0 0 FR 9.1 27.3 9.1 54.5 18.2 18.2 9.1 54.5 DE 20 40 0 40 10 50 0 40 IT 30 35 0 35 35 45 0 20
E S 0 25 12.5 62.5 25 37.5 0 37.5 UK 20 50 0 30 40 50 0 10
TOT 19.5 32.9 3.7 43.9 25.6 41.5 1.2 31.7
• Disappointed about the unbundled access options • Become either completely FREE or offer only online subscriptions
Day pass: BE: 55.6% 33.3% NL: 0% 25%PPV: BE: 0% 11.1% NL: 37.5% 25%
II. MAIN FINDINGS: SUBSCRIPTIONS VS. PPV
• Unbundled popularity • Online subscriptions in NL and DE (cf. supra)
2006 2008 2006 2008 In % of total
ON L IN E SU B SCR IP T IO N S UNBUND L ED ACC ESS
O P TION(S) BE 88.9 77.8 55.6 44.4 NL 62.5 87.5 62.5 50 LU 66.7 66.7 33.3 0 FR 81.8 72.7 63.6 63.6 DE 80 90 40 40 IT 70 65 35 20
E S 87.5 75 75 37.5 UK 80 60 30 10
TOT A L 76.8 73.2 47.6 32.9
Aggregate figures:(if 2 alternatives available, appearance in both categories)
-14/18-
II. MAIN FINDINGS: THE ARCHIVE
• More than half now have a FREE archive • 8.5% of sample still does not have an archive yet• BE: 22.2% abandons it NL: 12.5% free 12.5% fee
2006 2008 2006 2008 2006 2008 In % of total FR EE ARC H IV E PA ID -FO R ARC HI VE N.A. BE 44.4 33.3 55.6 44.4 0 22.2 NL 62.5 62.5 37.5 37.5 0 0 LU 50 66.7 50 0 0 33.3 FR 18.2 27.3 63.6 72.7 18.2 0 DE 60 50 40 50 0 0 IT 45 55 40 35 15 10
E S 50 50 37.5 50 12.5 0 UK 60 80 20 10 20 10
TOT 47.6 52.4 42.7 39 9.8 8.5
II. MAIN FINDINGS: THE ARCHIVE
• “Trial and error” approach? 8 sites from FREE to charged-for
11 from charged-for to FREE 6 sites started with the offering of an archive 4 nps simply removed it
2006 2008 2006 2008 2006 2008 In % of total FR EE ARC H IV E PA ID -FO R ARC HI VE N.A. BE 44.4 33.3 55.6 44.4 0 22.2 NL 62.5 62.5 37.5 37.5 0 0 LU 50 66.7 50 0 0 33.3 FR 18.2 27.3 63.6 72.7 18.2 0 DE 60 50 40 50 0 0 IT 45 55 40 35 15 10
E S 50 50 37.5 50 12.5 0 UK 60 80 20 10 20 10
TOT 47.6 52.4 42.7 39 9.8 8.5
-16/18-
AGENDA
I. DEFINITIONS
II. MAIN FINDINGS
III. CONCLUSION
III. CONCLUSION
• Evolution 1: FEE FREE• Evolution 2: FEE+ lighter revenue models
– PDF = low-cost, minimal-effort strategy (print content is digitised ‘as is’)
• Increasing aversion against unbundled access options– Nps that still opt for a FEE+ strategy prefer subscription
formulas
• Archive: free to attract visitors/ad revenues vs. a strict ‘walled-garden’ approach
Chicken-and-egg problem ?
Innovative payment instruments ∞ Unbundled access options