When The Boston Globe split off from Boston.com last year, the Globe hogged all the financial glory with their paywall (and smart re-design). Boston.com was left with the corporate equivalent of spousal support.
But Boston.com rallied and has played to its strengths as a lifestyle website. It eschewed the paywall model and branched into ecommerce by selling sports tickets online. Some journalists may call it a conflict of interest, but 21st century journalists know the difference between journalism and content curation.
GfK MRI’s semiannual measure of magazine readership was released to much ballyhooing this week, as publishers practically demanded a recount. The survey showed 70% of the 220 magazines measured were down in audience, including Wired (down 22%), O, the Oprah Magazine (down 10%) and New York (down 14%), according to AdWeek.
However, the publishers claim the survey doesn’t account for growing digital subscriptions. The problem may be in the methodology, as MRI collects information through in-person surveys. The likelihood that digital readers, with their enjoyment of mobile- and tablet-friendly content, are going to sit through an in-person survey is unlikely. Furthermore, the fact that consumers “understood” the questions doesn’t mean they necessarily wanted to answer them.
The take-away? Methodology is key in market research. This is especially true when new technology comes on to the scene, as beautifully illustrated by the infamous Literary Digest Poll of 1939 that erroneously predicted Alfred Landon’s victory over Franklin Roosevelt in the presidential election. Why did they get it wrong? Their sample had a high percentage of Americans with telephones and cars (i.e., wealthy Americans during the Great Depression who were less likely to vote for Roosevelt).
Remember: A unrepresentative sample will always misrepresent the data.
It seems that subscription sites are all the rage!
A recent article on e-businessmoms.com tooted the advantages to busy moms about making your living with an online membership site. Of course, starting a subscription site is not as easy as starting a blog. The technology is more complex, not to mention the fact that you need to know how to market, convert, retain and process payments. (Incidentally, I once heard someone complain to a payment processing service rep that their “button” didn’t work. After the rep apologized profusely for the technical glitch, the person explained, “No, it works technically. It’s just that no one clicks on it.”)
But still, we’ve seen some interesting sites in the subscription circle recently, many of them headed by working moms — from Jessica Kim’s Babbabox, which provides parents with a kit of activities every month, to Caroline O’ Connor’s Plum Gear, which positions themselves as the “Netflix of baby clothes.” (Incidentally, men don’t seem to position themselves as working dads. Hopefully this will change — either working moms will just become women in business or working dads will get their say.)
But is every idea viable? What do you think are some of the best subscription/membership sites out there? And have you had an idea that either soared or plummeted? Paywall Times would love to know! (We might even feature you in our sister publication, Subscription Site Insider!)
Need to shut up a friend or colleague who insists subscriptions will never be a significant portion of your revenues? Well, here’s some good news out of the U.K. that may just do the trick.
Digital subscriptions currently make up only 30% of subscription sales at FT (I suspect it’s because financial types like to be seen with that pink paper in hand), but this is likely to change moving forward. Recently, FT was able to create an app for iPhone, iPad and Android platforms that bypasses Apple’s app store, thereby saving them the 30% gatekeeper charge from Apple — as well as preserving their access to their own subscriber’s data.
This knowledge helps FT sell better-targeted advertising for much higher rates despite a volatile advertising markets, and allows them to maintain a direct relationship with readers. In fact, their Web app was downloaded for the millionth time this month.
However, Apple tends not to like people who think outside the box (unless it’s them of course). So it remains to be seen if the newer iPhone versions don’t try to block such creative, money-saving solutions. After all, their secret police already raided a journalist’s home to prevent him from leaking information about the iPhone 4.
In early 2010, we estimated US adult content sites were selling an estimated $4 billion per year in memberships and other recurring billing subscription plans. Given the amount of membership site launch and growth activity reported on by trade magazine XBiz.com just in the last month alone, we suspect that number is now considerably higher.
For example, last Friday Private Media Group launched a new softcore membership website Glamazones.com; and, this week lesbian content specialists Girlfriends Films noted for 2011 due in part to “the massive success of our membership site, we exceeded our own expectations.”
Aside from compelling content, what marketing tactic is responsible for this success? Adult sites rely far more heavily on affiliate marketing deals than any other membership site sector we’re aware of. Plus, in the adult world directly competing sites are highly likely to be each other’s affiliates. One common tactic, using overlays and exit pops to promote a competitor’s site to all traffic that bounces off your own site without converting to your own membership offer. This is an idea that could work well for mainstream sites as well… but we don’t know anyone who’s yet to try it.
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