I’m willing to bet one of you 50 pounds that one of the major UK newspapers will go completely free within three years.
In fact, I’ll narrow it slightly to the following titles:
The Guardian
The Independent
The Times
The Daily Telegraph
Financial Times
The Sun
Daily Mail
Daily Express
Daily Mirror
So I bet fifty quid that one of the those papers goes free within three years. Anyone fancy a flutter?
I’ll take you up Dave.
I don’t think it will happen.I think that the trend may well continue in the local and regional papers but the economics of the major nationals requires paid for copies.
Great!
My thinking is that the first national daily to go free will get SO many readers. Which will make advertisers pay a lot more… and I think this income could eclipse the miserly 80p or lower a head they’re getting from sales.
Dave Lee have we not talked about this for numerous hours… i think that yes you are right but seriously three years time……. thats a bit extream… i know that technology is moving and developing quickly but i dont think that paper free for any of those national titles! I think that it is more like 10 years time not three…. people still like the crisp feel of a newspaper dont they?
They sure do… I made a point in my session yesterday that although the web is great for many things, there is nothing like reading a big feature when it’s in print.
What I mean is, we get the paper copy for free. Income from sales contributes very little to the profits of newspapers, so I say we just drop the 80p and replace it with a much more attractive proposition for advertisers: More readers!
I’m sure you’ve seen thelondonpaper and London Lite around… on a weekday afternoon they are EVERYWHERE. Their readership is massive. You can stand on a tube train and see the papers in almost everybody’s hands.
I know that as an advertiser, I’d much prefer to be in a paper that is read by loads of people… and I’d pay more for it.
Can’t see it happening. Those London papers, yes are literally everywhere, throwaway. So you say the cover price would be made up in advertising revenue, and moreso? This is assuming advertisers will either pay more, or include more advertisement. And why would they pay more for advertising that is less targetted? Advertisers could not target if the paper can be picked up by anyone, so their adverts could be less useful.
Besides why make printed paper free for the consumer? Especially on the scale of those huge national dailies. Would publishers print millions more each day, to reap the higher reader base and higher ad revenue like you say? or print the same amount, which negates the higher readership? Lets think about the trees, eh.
And who stocks all of these free newpapers?
I know little about Journalism, advertising and publishing though. Just my opinion.