Free or paid: why the rules are different for print
Having written rather disparagingly of the Manchester Evening News giving itself away, I’ve been emailed: we don’t pay for online content, why are the rules of the game be different for print?
Free circulation isn’t a bad thing in itself, but the publisher’s attitude says a lot. Guardian Media Group’s Mark Dodson (‘we are in the advertising business not the newspaper publishing business’) seems to view his weekly free sheets as no more than an excuse to push advertising through people’s letter boxes. The Verified Free Distribution (VFD), which reveals the South Manchester Reporter to be 78 per cent advertising (not including inserts), isn’t affected by people binning the paper unread. But the increasing number of inserts implies that less people are reading (I receive my South Manchester Reporter tucked inside the weekly Metro News along with at least half a dozen inserts). Advertisers realise that an ad on an inside page won’t be seen.
This business model won’t work online. The Guardian is so successful online because people are sucked in by the editorial and click the odd ad while they’re there. That’s as it should be. It also means editorial has to be more engaging than ever before, which should be good for everyone. An advertising to editorial ratio well over three to one won’t work online.
The other issue faced by the Manchester Evening News is physically pushing the paper into the hands of one in three commuters. I’ve seen them trying to give away copies at supermarkets with a free chocolate bar thrown in. Penetration is nowhere near one in three. M.E.N. dodging is set to become a Manchester craze… it’s a lot of paper to carry around unread.
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