Yesterday I spoke during a morning panel at the 80th Annual International Newsmedia Marketing Association (INMA) World Congress in New York. We discussed “Content and the Value of Paid vs. Free” and I spoke alongside Kurt Lozier, senior vice president/digital media and product management for the Dow Jones Local Media Group; Greg Harmon, managing director of Belden Interactive; and Conan Gallaty, online director, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The attendance was great and it was interesting to hear what sorts of experiences other people are having charging for content. On the newspaper front, Gallaty seems to be having success, even following a fairly substantial rate hike—showing that often we estimate incorrectly what our content is worth to people.
My presentation focused on research data we have collected, as well as details on what types of local content people currently pay (a lot) for and how newspapers might explore those topics. You can check out the presentation on the Sub Site Niches page at www.subscriptionsiteinsider.com.
As the comment storm sparked by Folio’s story wondering if RBI ever meant to sell the magazines it’s shuttered this month indicates, several publishers have wanted to buy RBI titles. But their emails and/or calls weren’t returned.
I’m one of them. And I know several more who’ve reached out to me personally, as well as several who complained on other private industry email discussion groups. The flurry of handraising makes me wonder if this was all a clever tactic on RBI’s part to raise awareness and competitiveness among buyers for the titles they’re shuttering. Intended or not, it’s sure working.
Happily all of this attention has helped in one key way — officials at RBI are at last communicating with the outside world about selling the titles. I’ve received two emails in the past 24 hours from folks there. They both said “If we enter into 3rd party sales and the requested titles are available, we will contact you by May 3.” So that must be their party line.
Worth noting, the title’s websites say they’ll be shuttered and the content will not longer be online as of April 30th. So what’s with the May 3rd deadline? Something’s happening behind the scenes next week for sure.
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