Current thinking in the newspaper biz is that the cure to what ails them is to figure out how to get some of the people to pay for some of the content. In other words, keep some stuff for free, but charge for the stuff that people really want. Not a bad strategy, and […]

The email I received from Virgin Airlines yesterday announcing their “Day in the Cloud” scavenger hunt reminded me of a question that many have been asking recently: when is digital, social?
The rise of online digital media, like YouTube, and even Twitter has given marketers new tools to ignite viral messaging online. Often, their […]

Interesting interview in yesterday’s WSJ with John Malone. The topic: how to get web visitors to pay for content on the web. The conclusion: advertising as a business model won’t cut it but there is a way to get consumers to ante up for content if bundled with what Malone describes as community and connectivity.
Interesting […]

Hearst Magazines is following a ‘contrarian strategy’ when it comes to its online strategy and pricing its print magazines according to an article in Monday’s New York Times. Hearst has raised newsstand prices for most of its magazines, sometimes significantly. And rather than sticking all of its content online it has been pretty coy. Online […]

Positive feedback effects are one of the most important sources of growth for businesses in many industries from new ones like social networking to old ones like telephones. It turns out that, like leverage, what’s really good on the upside is also quite bad on the downside. Malls and newspapers are two interesting recent […]

Really interesting article in yesterday’s NYT Magazine on the value (or lack thereof) of reader-posted comments to news websites. The author makes her case that reader generated comments are nothing more than the rehashed rants of the fringe who don’t really read the post but instead use the comments section as a forum to posit […]

Back in 1893, magazines earned most of their profits from subscriptions or newsstand sales and they didn’t carry much advertising. Then a clever magazine mogul by the name of Charles McClure slashed his subscription fees, exploded his readership, and made a fortune from selling advertising. Others soon followed suit and the modern era of advertising-supported […]

There’s some irony in one of the first major daily papers going down the drain being a major daily in Seattle with San Francisco close behind. The Hearst Corporation couldn’t find a buyer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and plans to build an online property from its ashes. Tomorrow, St. Patrick’s Day, 2009, is its […]

It’s amusing when one kind of dinosaur predicts the demise of another kind of dinosaur. But there you have it with Time Magazine’s list of the 10 most endangered newspapers in America. My hometown rag is number 4 on the list and is losing $1 million a week.
The next few years will likely see […]

Hearst is going to introduce its own electronic reader for its newspapers and magazines. There’s part of this idea that is brilliant—in fact Catalyst bloggette Karen Webster and I had even suggested it over a year ago—and there’s part that is simply boneheaded.
The brilliant part is that traditional print media needs a better way […]