Traditional view of newspaper
++ Updated 1pm July 19th — see para below in red ++
How’s The Times/Sunday Times paywall thing doing?
Well, Beehive City said we didn’t believe that the endless graphs about the levels of web traffic to The Times homepage told you anything. That hasn’t stopped more meaningless articles appearing in the days since.
So it’s time to end the uncertainty. Here’s the sign-up data the Hive has picked up (and if you want more analysis on the figures, read here).
Number of people registering for The Times and Sunday Times websites during the free trial period: 150,000
++ Update 19/07 noon: I’m now hearing from official sources that this number is in fact somewhat higher. But I’m hearing no challege to the more important numbers below ++
Number of people actually agreeing to pay money: 15,000
This figure, apparently, is considered disappointing. And if it’s right it’s certainly a slow start (right now Beehive City considers itself bigger than Times Online, and we ain’t lying either). But you’d still expect that to build steadily from here even if the Mandelson memoirs haven’t delivered the box office.
But there is more obviously positive news too.
Number of people paying for The Times’s separate iPad application: 12,500
That’s considered to be a very good number — given that not that many people own an iPad. Which makes you think that the future of newspapers starts to look a bit like the music industry. A declining print business; a modestly growing Apple dominated digital-paid for business — and an internet free-for-all in which nobody pays for anything that erodes the previous two.
We’ll have a bit of a financial analysis of what these figures mean later today (it’s up now). But it’s time to get some numbers out there for the moment.
Fifteen thousand and another 12k on the iPad? So if they’re all paying the maximum £2 a week, then I’m… er, News Corp can expect to generate a maximum of about £2.8m a year (and obviously it will be less than that, unless they get a boost in subscribers). That’s about what Mail online generates according to Martin Clarke speaking to the mediagraun-mumble.
Are those figures for across all titles? Or just the Times? If The Sun and NotW have comparable stats then there’s a little bit more in the pot.
The Sun and NOTW are not part of the online paywall… Dan
[...] ne sont pas officiels, ils viennent d’un ancien correspondant du Times, Dan Sabbagh (ils sont publiés sur son blog), et il encore un peu tôt pour en tirer des conclusions définitives. Mais ils restent un [...]
[...] those figures are meaningless, says former Times media editor Dan Sabbagh who claims (without any official verification) that 150,000 readers registered for the free trail [...]
Out of interest, how much are they losing in ad revenue from the lower visitor numbers?
Not easy to find out the answer to that one — guesses only at this point — Dan
[...] figures popped up on Beehive City, sourced at a former Times media correspondent, which adds a little credence to the data. And [...]
If they think 12,500 iPad customers will renew they’re going to be sorely disappointed with the iPad numbers. Current subscribers have not yet renewed their subscription which was extended by a month due to technical difficulties. Most subscribers (myself included) signed up for a month to try out the iPad edition, based on iTunes App Store ratings more than 50% are less than satisfied.
[...] the figures are massively inflated compared to what former Times media correspondent Dan Sabbagh is suggesting. He believes the sign up figures to be considerably less, based on lose lipped [...]
[...] are approximately 150,000 Times print subscribers who get a free online registration, but if the estimated 15,000 daily online users who agreed to pay opt for the £2 a week deal, the paywall will generate [...]
I think that the numbers will fluctuate and the real importance here is the business model that the times have chosen to adopt in these trying times. Promotion may work but there will certainly be some hard lessons to learn, and The Times will be the first mover in this market, with stiff competition from the BBC.
It is certainly a great subject for debate:
http://www.binarydesigner.co.uk/2010/07/do-we-agree-in-online-paywalls/
[...] online edition. If theGuardian’s analysis holds up—similar takes have been published by Dan Sabbah and Michael Wolff—thenThe Times would seem to be fighting an uphill battle for subscribers, [...]
[...] and The Guardian is claiming a 90% drop in traffic for The Times. Other sources are reporting only 15,000 people have paid for access. There are no official stats from Murdoch but even the rosiest figures are painting a [...]