LA Times going to paywall

Got this email today:

Dear Readers,
We are making an exciting change to latimes.com, and we want you to
be the first to know how we're evolving.
NEW LOS ANGELES TIMES MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM
On March 5, we're launching a membership program. If you're an avid latimes.com
reader, but not currently a home delivery customer, we hope you'll consider joining for
a nominal fee to get:

• Unlimited digital access to all of The Times' award-winning news and information
• Unique storytelling
• Investigative reports
• In-depth local news
• Signature blogs
• Compelling photo galleries
• Original video content
• Revealing data projects and analysis


Membership privileges also include:

• Special opportunities at select Times events
• Exclusive discounts and deals
• Giveaways and contests

If you are already a subscriber, you simply need to follow a few registration steps to
activate your membership at no additional cost. Non-members can continue to browse
The Times online for limited reading and breaking news.
To activate or join on March 5, please visit latimes.com/membership.
As always, the Los Angeles Times is your all-access pass to the news, culture and
happenings that matter. Our high-quality journalism consistently wins the country's
most prestigious accolades and provides you with the trusted news and information
crucial to navigating and enjoying Southern California. We believe our coverage — from
around the world and right down to your neighborhood — provides perspective and
incomparable value and we appreciate that you do too.
Welcome,

Eddy Hartenstein, Publisher and CEO Kathy Thomson, President and COO

 

I'm looking forward to joining the membership program, but for the life of me I can't figure out how the paper or their site is going to scan my membership card every day?

 

It's a simple punch card with a special hole punch in the shape of a full-body columnist mug shot.

 

The e-edition is also $4 a week now. Compared to $12.99 a month when Newsstand was the one supplying the platform.

A little too much, LA Times. Aside from the rarities like Miami charging only $2 a month for its e-edition, most papers' e-replicas run between $5 and $10 a month.

Wonder how long before the discounts start?

 

I got the same email.

An "exciting" change. So, the exact thing that's been free for years will now cost me $4 a week? Gee, that is exciting!

You know what doesn't really work for a business? Treating your customers like they're idiots.

 

Whoever is writing and approved this marketing drivel for the L.A. Times should be fired.

 

The Providence Journal officially did this this week as well and the online commenters (not surprisingly) are losing their sh*t.

I say f**k em. We all know what it takes to put out a paper. Good to see companies moving away from giving away for free and expecting to make money by some unknown magical formula of online ads no one cares about and print ads no one sees anyway.

 

Yes, this is all a case of the newspaper industry making mistakes more than a decade ago, and now we're finally facing facts. It's taken newspapers far too long to find a workable internet strategy. Once people realize the norm is paying a small fee for their news service, I'm hoping they'll come around. But yes, an initial backlash is to be expected and yes, some will settle for TV news drivel or Facebook updates.

On a side note...$4 a week seemed a bit much to me, too...especially at the start. They should start it up with an introductory rate of some sort.

 

For papers like the LAT, NYT, USAT and WaPo, what's the percentage of pageviews that come from Google, Twitter or Facebook from people who would never see or be affected by a paywall? 60%?

And what's the value of those pageviews in terms of bringing in ad revenue vs. selling ads when you (I'm assuming) have the additional demographic information that a paywall provides? Implementing a sophisticated paywall can't be cheap, so what's the break-even point, let alone how long it takes to make a meaningful profit?

 

yep, that's the attitude that's killing your business. treat your potential customers that way. are you a publisher?

there are enough outlets that provide me what i need for free. i'll always happily pay for quality journalism that interest me - online, print and ipad apps for a handful of magazines and newspapers. why would i pay for the la times when i live in fort lauderdale? i'll miss reading it occasionally when i come across a link on google news or a link from elsewhere. but i'll get over it. quickly. if i have to go back to the day when i got my news from just a handful of media sources, that will be fine.

 

Yes, and if you want news on Fort Lauderdale, I imagine you would be willing to pay for it, because you aren't going to get it from anywhere else.

Is an advertiser in the LA Times really concerned that some guy in Florida isn't seeing their ad?

 

Interesting timing of this NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/technology/impatient-web-users-flee-slow-loading-sites.html

My point remains I think it would just keep people off your site rather than entice them into spending money.