SA's biggest selling Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Times, is warning readers that it is looking at charging for its online version.
Should it proceed with the paid-for content strategy, it will be the largest paper in the country to follow that route.
The paper, which has close to four million readers and an online audience of about a million unique readers, has pasted a note on its Web site that states: “Note: In the future this page will only be viewable by Sunday Times subscribers.”
Mike Robertson, MD of Avusa's Media division, says the company is at an early stage in its thinking, but is considering “putting the site behind a wall”. He says the note on the site is to warn readers that this is the future path the company will take.
The move to paid-for content is a growing trend in SA, and internationally. In November, News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch said the company may charge for online content after raising concerns that people are getting free published online content, and then do not need to buy the publication, which eats into revenue.
In SA, the Witness has moved onto a subscription-based service for its online content. The KwaZulu-Natal-based paper - a Naspers publication - has gone the subscription route, which will cost readers just over R3 a day if they subscribe for 12 months.
Payment models
digitise more than a century's worth of the publication.
“We haven't decided what the model will be,” he says. Some publications charge for each article, while others - such as the Witness - have opted for a flat subscription model. The UK's Financial Times has open access for a limited number of stories, and then charges people to continue reading.
Avusa is researching payment models and will eventually go that route when the archives are launched, Robertson says. The rationale is to make the site “pay for itself”.
He explains that it “costs a hell of a lot of money to run a newspaper that breaks a story about Jacob Zuma's love child”, and this content is then received free by online readers, while those who read the paper have to pay for it.
Another Avusa publication, the Sowetan, is also in the process of having its archives digitised and may follow the same route, says Robertson.
However, notes Robertson, while the company will charge for access to the Sunday Times and its archives, “breaking news will always be free”. The Sunday paper's sister site, The Times, will remain free online.
Way of the future?
JP Farinha, CEO of Naspers' Internet offerings, 24.com, said previously the company was watching the debate over whether to move to paid-for content “with interest”. Farinha has not indicated which way Naspers will move in the future. The group owns publications and online news sites such as News24.com.
Independent Newspapers, which was not available for comment, is also going digital and has advertised what it calls e-ditions, which subscribers will have to pay for. “E-dition is a digital version of the real thing,” its advertisement says.
Anton Harber, Caxton professor of journalism and media studies and director of the journalism programme, at the University of the Witwatersrand, has said the move towards paid-for content is inevitable.
He expects the trend of charging for online content to gain momentum, and for more media houses to follow this route. How long this will take and whether people will have to subscribe, or pay per article, is an unknown at the moment.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says the Sunday Times will be the largest paper to follow this route. However, if the online version is not a value-add for current subscribers, but an additional charge, the strategy could fail.
He adds that the creation of the archive is a valuable addition, but people will only need to access the archives for limited period of time, and should not form part of a blanket charge. Goldstuck says, however, charging per article could turn into an administrative nightmare.
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SA media ponders paid-for content
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