How much would you pay to read Philly.com?
It's a question you'll have to ask yourself soon: Brian Tierney made it official on Good Day Philadelphia this morning that he plans to start charging for content on the Philly.com website by the end of the year:
He told "Good Day Philadelphia," by year end he expects his company to start charging customers for access to Phiily.com.
"I think by the end of this year we'll starting doing what a lot of other newspapers are looking at doing and charging something for it,” Tierney said. “We can’t spend $53 million on newsroom costs and give it away on the back door in terms of things. There will be a small charge for that.”
Tierney also said he plans to take on Google over the possibly getting money from Google for Philadelphia Media Holdings content that resides on the search engine’s site.
Some advice for Tierney: Don't take on Google. That site is sending you traffic, not taking it away.
We're dubious about the prospect of any kind of pay wall for Philly.com -- but it might be successful, who knows? Some more advice for Tierney: Don't charge for the whole site. (And really, really don't try charging us to read the columns of John Yoo and Rick Santorum. We won't. Period.) That'll just send people scurrying to the websites of all the other media outlets in town. Instead: Start by charging people for the stuff they really want from you: Sports. The Inky and the Daily News have the broadest, deepest sports coverage in town and nearly everybody -- including other media outlets -- relies on and enjoys their coverage of the city's teams. If a paywall is going to work, that's where it's going to work best for you.
That said, it's still kind of hard to take Tierney seriously when he says stuff like this:
“The company itself made $36 million last year. We are one of the most profitable newspapers in the country,” Tierney said.
You know. Except for the bankruptcy.
COMMENTS
ADD COMMENT
MORE
Article:
Researcher Kevin Jones Recruits People for Much-Needed HIV Studies
Article:
Million Man March Comes to Philly This Weekend
Article:
Vacant Hunting Park School Is a Scrapper's Delight
Article:
Philly Blogger Learns a Lesson or Two on Rhetoric, Islam and Politics
Article:
Milton Street's Ex-Factor
Article:
Free Spirits: A Call to Kill the PA Liquor Control Board
Article:
Is Mayor Nutter Losing the Gay Vote?
1. Colin L. said... on Jun 2, 2009 at 12:09PM
“I think I'd be willing to pay up to $40 a year for Philly.com but they'd have to make it really easy to bill my credit card and I wouldn't want to have to put my information in every year.”
2. joeldermole said... on Jun 2, 2009 at 12:20PM
“Just looking through the subscription options for the print editions, I see that you can get 8 weeks of the Inky for juuuuust shy of $50. So about $25 a month. Add the Daily News content AND web-only content to it ... and, I guess I can see a universe in which I'd be willing to pay $10 a month or so for access. That's not as much as print, no -- I'm not paying for the costs of paper or delivery, after all.
Mostly, though, I'd probably be tempted to read the New York Times online and listen to WHYY in the morning -- and do all of that for free. The broader media landscape is going to have to turn a lot more toward pay-for-news before paying feels right. But Tierney went to that big secret meeting of news execs last week, so maybe that's what is happening.”
3. Tom O'Drain said... on Jun 2, 2009 at 09:35PM
“I'll just listen to kyw or some of the other radio stations in the city to get my news. The Inky and the daily news have nothing useful in them anyway and they are just another arm of the main stream media that really don't report much except how many brothers got killed in north Philly the night before and you can always guess way ahead of any election who they are going to endorse for office....a truly one-sided political view. Philly is dead anyway last one out turn out the lights.”