Boston Globe drops paywall for Marathon coverage

93Devil · Apr 16, 2013

Versatile said:

Also, why should your Red Sox-Rays coverage be free because there was an unrelated incident in another part of town? Why should a feature about one of the victims be free? Why should exclusive video be free?

Give the people what they need. I can understand that level of compassion. But giving away the cow on the day when you can most easily sell it is a poor strategy, the type that brought us here.
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I agree.

Captain Obvious · Apr 16, 2013

JRoyal said:

Dick Whitman said:

Here's an issue I have with it: By rescuing this particular story from behind the paywall, are you implying that this is the moral/ethical/right way to do things? That charging people for the news - your product - is somehow, if not reprehensible, at the very least low-rent?
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I think by taking it from behind the paywall, all your saying is that when a tragedy strikes, it's more important for you as a newspaper to be part of the community than to make money off the tragedy. Like I said before, there are lots of businesses that donate products or services to charity groups during disasters and other community-rocking events. For newspapers, this is a way to do that. Just because a store donates water to the Red Cross after a flood or hurricane, no one thinks that store is low-rent for charging for it later.
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I don't think the Globe was ad-free yesterday afternoon.

JRoyal · Apr 16, 2013

Captain Obvious said:

JRoyal said:

Dick Whitman said:

Here's an issue I have with it: By rescuing this particular story from behind the paywall, are you implying that this is the moral/ethical/right way to do things? That charging people for the news - your product - is somehow, if not reprehensible, at the very least low-rent?
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I think by taking it from behind the paywall, all your saying is that when a tragedy strikes, it's more important for you as a newspaper to be part of the community than to make money off the tragedy. Like I said before, there are lots of businesses that donate products or services to charity groups during disasters and other community-rocking events. For newspapers, this is a way to do that. Just because a store donates water to the Red Cross after a flood or hurricane, no one thinks that store is low-rent for charging for it later.
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I don't think the Globe was ad-free yesterday afternoon.
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Totally unrelated and you know it.

playthrough · Apr 17, 2013

Dick Whitman said:

Versatile said:

Why not only take down the paywall for the lead news story? Then you can include in that story engaging links to your other content, but you still are giving everyone the hard news. It's like letting people at the fruit stand try one grape. Some people only want one, but others will buy the bunch if it's good enough.
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I think this is probably the best solution.
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Ditto. I read the lead today and then clicked through all the photo galleries and probably a half-dozen more stories. But if they had given me the lead for free and then a button to click to see everything else for 50 cents or a buck, I would have pulled out the debit card. Honest. I had my breakfast and for a few minutes was a captive audience.

Like others say, you simply have to train people to pay for this stuff. I still think it can be done, if the quality journalism is there. The Globe right now definitely qualifies.

Captain Obvious · Apr 17, 2013

Not too many people outside of Boston will plunk down money to read stories they can get elsewhere. Dropping the paywall for something this big allows the Globe to at least try to earn ad revenue from page views from outside the region, and from readers around the world.

playthrough · Apr 17, 2013

Captain Obvious said:

Not too many people outside of Boston will plunk down money to read stories they can get elsewhere. Dropping the paywall for something this big allows the Globe to at least try to earn ad revenue from page views from outside the region, and from readers around the world.
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I'm no ad expert, but the page view revenue can't be that significant -- plus if there are local ads, who cares if I see them in Florida?

As for some of their coverage today, can that be found elsewhere? Maybe some but probably not all. If given the choice at the moment I was interested in reading to pay a quarter or go surfing elsewhere, I still think I'd have dropped the coin. Sooner or later, at the time when the chance to make money is greatest (and, sadly, times like this qualify), papers are going to have to simply resist the temptation to give it away.

Versatile · Apr 17, 2013

Website ad revenue on breaking news, when the specific contracts for maximum exposure can't be drawn up in advance, is rather minimal, unfortunately.

deskslave · Apr 17, 2013

One of the ancillary benefits of paywalls is that you get more of a record of who's reading the website and can sell that specificity to advertisers. Local advertisers in Boston couldn't care less who's seeing their ad anywhere else.

Also, it still baffles me that anyone uses the Internet in such a way as to actually see advertising.

JRoyal · Apr 17, 2013

playthrough said:

Captain Obvious said:

Not too many people outside of Boston will plunk down money to read stories they can get elsewhere. Dropping the paywall for something this big allows the Globe to at least try to earn ad revenue from page views from outside the region, and from readers around the world.
Click to expand...

I'm no ad expert, but the page view revenue can't be that significant -- plus if there are local ads, who cares if I see them in Florida?

As for some of their coverage today, can that be found elsewhere? Maybe some but probably not all. If given the choice at the moment I was interested in reading to pay a quarter or go surfing elsewhere, I still think I'd have dropped the coin. Sooner or later, at the time when the chance to make money is greatest (and, sadly, times like this qualify), papers are going to have to simply resist the temptation to give it away.
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I don't think the price would be the deterrent in some ways if it's a small cost like that. It's the hassle of going to get your wallet if you don't have it on you, getting out your card, putting in all the information. If it's linked to some kind of online wallet system or PayPal or something, it could be a much easier process. Otherwise, it could be a headache that a lot of people would skip.

And if it requires a full subscription to the site for a month, then most people wouldn't pay it.

playthrough · Apr 17, 2013

JRoyal said:

playthrough said:

Captain Obvious said:

Not too many people outside of Boston will plunk down money to read stories they can get elsewhere. Dropping the paywall for something this big allows the Globe to at least try to earn ad revenue from page views from outside the region, and from readers around the world.
Click to expand...

I'm no ad expert, but the page view revenue can't be that significant -- plus if there are local ads, who cares if I see them in Florida?

As for some of their coverage today, can that be found elsewhere? Maybe some but probably not all. If given the choice at the moment I was interested in reading to pay a quarter or go surfing elsewhere, I still think I'd have dropped the coin. Sooner or later, at the time when the chance to make money is greatest (and, sadly, times like this qualify), papers are going to have to simply resist the temptation to give it away.
Click to expand...

I don't think the price would be the deterrent in some ways if it's a small cost like that. It's the hassle of going to get your wallet if you don't have it on you, getting out your card, putting in all the information. If it's linked to some kind of online wallet system or PayPal or something, it could be a much easier process. Otherwise, it could be a headache that a lot of people would skip.

And if it requires a full subscription to the site for a month, then most people wouldn't pay it.
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Clearly they'd want to have some kind of PayPal/easy pay setup and various pay structures (24-hour access, a week, a month, X number of stories, whatever). I just don't know why this stuff is like rocket science for some news organizations.

Fredrick · Apr 19, 2013

This just shows how the higher-ups don't know what they are doing. So there's a huge story and now it's free? Stupid. I know they are probably "selling" their actions as doing the community a service, but it shouldn't be free just because it's a big story. It just shouldn't. In free enterprise America of old, this might have SOLD SOME ONLINE SUBSCRIPTIONS. Newspaper higher-ups you failed on this one.

Riptide · Apr 19, 2013

Hurricane and disaster info, free.
True crime in the streets, pay the man.

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Boston Globe drops paywall for Marathon coverage

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