Thursday, July 14, 2011

That nasty word -- paywalls -- crops up again

For at least one publisher, paywalls are working -- and he predicts they will work for all. Jim Moroney, CEO of the Dallas Morning News, told a panel sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America that paywalls are a key component of the three things he predicts will save newspapers: paywalls, revenue diversification, and strategic circulation pricing.

As part of the same teleconference panel, Mike Klingensmith of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune said that his company had dramatically raised prices all around without any drop in circulation. "The print subscribers who are with us are really with us."

A takeaway from this discussion is that print will survive, but it will take more flexibility in business practices and increases in revenues.