TheMediaBriefing：欧洲内容付费成功策略Europes-successful-pai课件

Europe’s

successfulpaid

content

strategiesEurope’ssuccessfulpaidconten1ContentsIntroductionIEurope’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesForewordOverviewCase

Studies:

Aftenposten

BILDCorrieredellaSera

De

CorrespondentThe

EconomistEl

Español

Financial

Times

Le

Monde

Liberation

MediapartNZZ

SZThe

National

The

Times

VGiiiii16810121416182022242628303234ContentsIntroductionIEurope’s2IntroductionThank

you

for

downloadingTheMediaBriefing’sreport

on

‘Europe’s

successful

Paid

content

strategies’.The

brightest

beacons

for

paid

content

are

gen-erallyperceived

to

be

American.

The

New

York

Times,

The

Wall

Street

Journal

and

latterly

the

Washington

Post,

dominate

discussions

on

how

to

do

paid

content

right.Leading

UK

publishers

sometimes

get

an

honourable

men-

tion,

but

few

media

houses

on

the

continent

receive

any

coverage

outside

their

own

borders.Wewanted

to

redress

that

imbalance

by

putting

together

a

report

that

introduces

some

of

the

leading

European

play-

ers

in

the

paid

content

arena,

and

some

interesting

new-

comers.

In

producing

the

report,

we

have

drawn

on

directinterviews

with

executives

involved

in

the

implementation

of

successful

paid

content

strategies

and

the

general

indus-try

news

reflecting

their

progress.The

report

is

not

a

guide

to

every

contour

of

the

paid

content

landscape

–

there

are

publishers

we

will

add

tofuture

reports,

like

Poland’s

Gazetta

Wyborska

which

has

notched

up

growth

of

30%

in

2016

to

secure

100,000

pay-

ing

subscribers.

But

we

hope

we

have

managed

to

high-

light

a

representative

cross-section

of

the

European

pub-

lisherssucceedingin

paid

content

at

the

moment.Hugethanks

go

to

our

sponsor

CeleraOne

-

without

their

generous

support

wesimplywouldn’t

have

been

able

to

invest

the

time

needed

to

conduct

the

interviews

and

re-

search

required

to

write

this

report.Wereallyhope

you

find

the

report

useful

and

are

verykeen

to

hear

what

you

think.

Please

get

in

touch

and

letus

know

what

you

liked

and

what

you’d

like

to

learn

moreabout

in

the

future.Very

best

regards,Peter

Houston,

Editor

at

Large,

TheMediaBriefing2Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesIntroductionThankyoufordownForewordAmusingly,

paywalls

manage

to

be

both

the

mostoverrated

and

most

underrated

business

modelin

digital

publishing.

They

are

overrated

whenpublishersexpectthat

the

mere

installation

of

a

payment

button

is

all

the

work

it

takes

to

“save”

journalism

–

actu-

ally,

it

takes

much

more.

They

are

underrated

when

the

scepticalcamp

still

claims

that

only

the

New

York

Timesand

the

Wall

Street

Journal

can

master

the

building

of

a

successful

paid

content

scheme.There

are

plenty

ofexamples,from

Amsterdam,

Berlin,Paris,

Oslo,

Munich

or

Zurich,

where

paid

subscriptionsaccount

for

20%,

30%,

40%

or

more

of

the

digital

revenues.Who

had

expected

this

only

fouryearsago?

This

report

collects

some

of

these

case

studies

and

identifies

whatmakesthem

successful.It’s

no

surprise

that

paywalls

don’t

workifthe

effort

is

half-hearted.

Behind

every

success

story

is

a

dedicatedteam.

It’s

the

people

who

make

the

difference.

They

needstrong

support

from

top

management

that

isbackedby

investments

in

technology,

product

and

marketing.The

foundation

is

a

journalism

with

a

unique

editorial

tone

and

loyal

readers.But

that’s

not

enough:

Alongside

all

these

factors,

a

gener-

ous

portion

of

tenacity

isalsorequired

given

that

it

gen-

erallytakes

more

than

two

or

threeyearsto

test,

adapt

or

change

the

paid

model

until

the

right

proposition

is

found.All

these

efforts

offer

plenty

of

advantages

in

the

long

run.

Subscription

revenues

allow

for

a

much

healthier

income

mix,

particularly

when

display

advertising

is

increasingly

selling

at

low

margins.

Paywalls

are

a

tool

to

build

relation-

ships:Premium

sectionsallow

publishers

to

obligate

users

to

register,

collecting

cross-device

data.“Behindeverysuccess

story

is

adedicated

team3Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesForewordAmusingly,paywallsmaIdentified

and

registered

users

are

key

for

other

businessmodels

as

well,

such

as

advertising,

newsletters

or

mer-

chandising.Yetmaybethe

greatestsideeffect

of

a

paywall

is

that

itmakespublishers

and

editorsfocus

on

their

most

loyal

readers

rather

than

chasinganonymous

clicks.During

the

last

few

years,

paid

contentbecameone

impor-

tant

tool

in

the

toolkit

for

many

publishers.

It

will

becomemore

important

still

as

teams,

technology

and

products

improve.Strict,

rule-based

paywalls

will

soon

be

a

thing

of

the

past

as

machine

learning

automates

and

optimizes

conversion.

With

the

advent

of

adblockers,

new

subscriptionsschemes

are

emerging,

e.g.

those

offering

a

lightad

experience.Certain

media

mayalsostart

playing

key

roles;

videos

or

podcasts

can

be

a

trigger

for

younger

audiences.It

seems

that

most

levers

in

the

paid

content

machineryhave

not

yet

been

touched.

Weare

both

excited

and

proud

to

continue

our

work

together

with

publishers

on

thisjourney.4Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesDr

Falk-Florian

Henrich,

CeleraOne“Most

levers

inthe

paid

contentmachinery

havenot

yet

beentouchedIdentifiedandregistereduserA

t

CeleraOne

we

supportpublisherswith

paid

content,identity

management

(SSO)and

user

segmentation

strategies.We

have

implemented

more

than

30projects

for

leading

publishers

includingNeue

Zürcher

Zeitung,

Zeit

Online,

Tamedia,

De

Persgroep

andmany

other

great

publishers.Our

team

brings

together

expertsin

Software

Engineering,

Big

Data,

Machine

Learning,

E-commerceand

Publishing.“

There

are

plentyof

paywall

solutions.

But

when

publishersare

big

and

ambitious,

they

usually

go

for

CeleraOne.

“KRESS

PRO

08/2016Can

we

tell

you

more

about

our

solutions?Send

anemail

to

request@AtCeleraOnewesupportpublis6Overview1Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesIt’s

no

great

secret

that

fewer

people

are

willing

to

payfor

content

than

the

publishing

community

would

like.The

Internet’s‘OriginalSin’

–

content

for

free

–

hangsheavy

over

most

media

houses

as

they

watch

digital

display

revenues

shrinking

instead

of

expanding

into

the

gap

left

by

failing

print

incomes.But

necessityis

the

mother

of

invention

and

the

tide

is

be-

ginning

to

turn

away

from

free

and

towards

paid

content.The

New

York

Times

has

led

the

paid

content

charge,

atleast

in

terms

of

raw

numbers,

and

the

paper

has

set

read-

er

revenues

at

the

centre

of

its

2020

strategy.

Reporting1.6

million

digital

subscribers

toward

the

end

of2016,

the

NYT’s

subscriptions

growth

is

as

much

as

10

times

what

itwasin2015.

A

target

of

10

million

subscribers

by

the

end

of

thedecadedoesn’tseemcompletely

impossible.The

NYT’s

is

the

highest

profile

paid

content

success

story,

but

the

Gray

Lady

is

not

the

only

newspaper

making

a

go

of

paid

content.

European

efforts

in

the

space

are

often

less

grand

in

scale,

but

equally

impressive

when

the

size

and

di-

versity

of

the

continent’s

publishing

markets

is

considered.French

trailblazer

Mediapart

has

almost130,000

paidsubscribers

in

a

country

of

60

million

people.

Scale

that

to

a

population

of

more

than

300

million

and

that’s

650,000subscribers,

two-thirds

of

the

NYT’s

total,

but

achieved

in

less

than

10yearsinstead

of166.It’s

exactlybecausethey

are

on

a

smaller

scale,

that

Europe’spaid

content

success

stories

are

interesting

to

the

generalpublishing

community.

The

test-and-learn

ethos

that

links

all

the

case

studies

in

this

report

is

crucial

in

developing

apaid

content

formula

that

suits

your

business.Evolving

modelsThere

is

no

one-size-fits

all

formula

for

achieving

success

in

paid

content.

Even

for

individual

publishers,

evolution

of

their

paywall

strategy

is

guaranteed

-

switches

fromhard

to

soft

to

hybrid

andbackagain

are

common.“The

tide

is

to

turnbeginningaway

from

freeand

towards

paidcontentOverview1Europe’ssuccessfulpConversion

from

free

to

paid

readershipliesat

the

core

of

most

paid

content

strategies.

Even

for

publications

withcontent

that

is

normallylockedup

tight,

teasing

readers

with

free

access

or

nominal-cost

trials

has

become

a

majormarketing

strategy.Subscription

marketing

is

no

longer

just

a

numbers

game,data

is

enabling

publishers

to

identify

content

that

con-

verts.

They

are

now

looking

hard

at

what

type

of

content

engagesaudiencesdeeplyenough

to

get

them

to

pay,

or

atleast

register,

spending

as

much

time

analysing

and

plan-ning

free-article

promotions

as

they

once

spent

counting

page

views

and

unique

visitors.Reachis

still

important,

with

marketers

targeting

estab-

lished

print

audiences

and

visitors

to

their

free

webpages

as

prime

prospects.

They

arealsolooking

to

social

media

to

build

and

engage

new

audiences.

Social

sharing

is

used

to

deliver

trial

access

to

paid

content,

but

publishers

areworking

hard

to

make

it

clear

that

access

is

compliments

of

someone

who

paid,

not

free.Print

readers

remain

a

prime

starting

point

and

print-dig-

ital

bundles

are

ubiquitous.

Interest

is

building

inweek-splitting

combination

deals

–

subscribers

get

digital

on

weekdays

when

they

are

travelling

to

and

from

work,

and

a

more

leisurely

print

experience

at

the

weekends.Promoting

the

value

of

subscriptions

is

crucial.For

moregeneral

interest

brands,

that

means

bundling

extras

fromsporting

highlights

tospecial

offers

and

sweepstakes.Oth-

er,

more

specialistcontent

producers,

areheavilypromot-

ing

the

exclusivityof

their

content

and

highlighting

the

trust

advantages

offered

by

a

premium

news

brand

in

a

world

of

fake

news.Reader

relationshipsCommunities

arealsokey

to

paid

content

sales.

These

are

being

nurtured

around

publishing

brands

through

regular,habit-forming,

consumption

of

content.

Emailnewslettersare

playing

an

increasingly

important

part

of

the

relation-

ship-building

process,

tapping

niche

interests

to

boost

engagement.010 20 30 40 50Monthly

price

point

(€)2Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategies60angmesnallusZZartionndemesñolistenteraILDtenAftenpostenBILDCorriere

della

SeraDe

CorrespondentThe

EconomistEl

EspañolFinancial

TimesLe

MondeLiberationMediapartNZZSZThe

NationalThe

TimesVGComparison

of

monthlyprice

points**Conversion

to

Euros

correct

as

of

Jan

2017ConversionfromfreetopaidrWhere

communities

alreadyexist

in

broader

society,

theyare

ripe

for

publishers

with

the

right

content

mix

and

po-

sitioning

to

to

target

with

payment

options.

Publishers

are

engaging

readers

in

these

groups

with

alternative

points

of

view,

butalsoby

offering

opportunities

for

participation,either

in

direct

content

creation

or

within

the

journalistic

process.However

it

manifests,

the

direct

relationship

between

pub-

lisher

and

reader

is

a

powerful

driver

for

building

alterna-

tive

revenues.

Beyond

direct

marketing

of

subscriptionsand

renewals,

the

data

captured

from

subscribers

isalso

being

used

to

develop

targeted,

ultimately

personalised,

marketing

and

advertising

propositions.And

the

need

to

understand

audienceswellenough

to

charge

them

money

hasalsoled

to

product

developmentopportunities.App

extensions

that

up

the

frequency

of

content

distribution

or

deliver

early

access

are

being

used

to

introduce

entry-level

price

points

and

add

value

tobase-

line

subscription

packages.Organisational

changeThe

shift

away

from

ad-supported

to

paid

content

publish-

ing

models

has

brought

change

within

the

organisation.Thefocus

on

value

over

volume

in

digital

content

hasre-emphasised

the

importance

of

the

role

of

content

crea-tors.

But

it

hasalsoforced

editors

and

journalists

to

re-

organise

around

‘always

on’

digital

schedules,to

abandon

the

pre-eminence

of

print

and

to

engage

with

the

commer-

cial

propositions

being

built

around

their

digital

content.Collaboration

and

cooperation

in

a

new

environment

are

not

always

easy.

But

withprint’s

decline

showing

no

signsof

easing

and

digital

display

revenues

heading

in

thesame

direction,

the

development

of

somelevelof

paid

content

seems

inevitable

for

Europe’s

publishers.Uniting

the

whole

organisation

behind

the

enterprise

to

develop

a

paid

proposition

that

the

audience

will

value

is

a

common

first

step

in

the

development

of

a

successful

paid

content

strategy.

Trial

and

error

is

the

second.Hopefully,

success

is

the

third.“inevitableseemsThe

developmentof

some

levelof

paid

contentfor

Europe’spublishersHard

paywall3Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesHybridPaid

trialsFreemiumMeteredPopularity

of

paywall

typesWherecommunitiesalreadyexisEurope’s

successful

paid

content

strategies0100,000600,000200,000 300,000 400,000Number

of

digital

subscribers500,000AftenpostenBILDCorriere

della

Sera

De

Correspondent

The

EconomistEl

Español

Financial

TimesLe

Monde

Libération

MediapartNZZSZPlus

The

National

The

Times

Verdens

GangSide-by-side:Paid

digital

subscribers4Europe’ssuccessfulpaidconteCase

Studies5Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesCaseStudies5Europe’ssuccessf“than

we

did

a

yearago“We

have

targets

which

are

very

much

on

subscriptions.

In

terms

of

editorial,

we

are

now

focusing

on

whatcansell

subscriptions.

Before

we

had

‘how

much

traffic?’,

now

we

have

‘how

many

subscriptions

canwe

sell?’”Tor

Jacobsen Chief

Commercial

Officer,Schibsted

NorgeNORWAYAftenpostenFocusing

on

what

sells

subscriptionsNorway’s

biggest

print

group

has

shiftedaway

from

traffic

metrics

to

analysingwhat

type

of

content

encourages

free

to

paid

conversion6Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesAftenposten,

published

by

Schibsted

Norge,

isNorway’s

largest

print

newspaper,

with

370,000subscribers,

110,000

digital

only.

Together

withBergensTidende,

Stavanger

Aftenblad

and

Fædrelandsven-

nen

the

Schibsted

Norge

group

has

over1.2

million

readers

every

day.The

papers

began

charging

for

online

content

in

2012,

intro-

ducing

a

metered

paywall

for

Aftenposten

and

a

freemium

model

for

the

three

other

brands.

Aftenposten

and

Bergens

Tidende

have

since

switched

to

a

hybrid

model

combin-ing

freemium

and

metered

access.

Stavanger

Aftenblad

andFædrelandsvennen

have

stayedwith

a

freemium

model.Regardless

of

model,

all

papers

in

the

group

have

increased

the

percentage

of

subscriber-only

content

-

BergensTidende

nowlocks

about

50%

of

its

content

compared

with

between

15%

and

20%

just

twoyears

ago.We

have

locked

alot

more

content“thanwedidayearago“Wehave0200,000400,000600,000800,0001,000,0001,200,000The

papers

offers

subscribers

three

options:

Digital

only,

digital

plus

weekend

print,

and

digital

plus

all

print.Management

has

been

encouraging

a

change

infocus,tar-

geting

subscription

sales

and

conversions

basedon

audiencedata.

For

editorial

especially,

this

marks

a

shift

away

fromprevious

targets

set

around

how

much

trafficwasgenerated

to

the

promotion

of

the

types

of

articles

thatwillsell

sub-

scriptions.Long-term,

Schibsted

subscription

sites

are

moving

towarda

membership

model

with

non-members

missing

out

on

the

best

content

but

also

on

‘good

deals’.Current

subscription

offers

leadon

heavy

discounting,

with

firstmonth’saccess

being

offered

for

Kr1

compared

to

the

usual

digital

price

of

Kr199.

The

offer

has

been

heavily

pro-

moted

against

all

free

content.

This

is

positioned

as,effec-

tively,

a

free

trial,

but

the

paper

reports

strong

conversionsfrom

a

campaign

in

October,

2016.The

publisher

advises

that,

for

online

subscriptions

to

be

suc-

cessful,

it

is

essential

to

communicate

a

clearcommitment

to

your

paid

content

strategy.

Withoutclearcommunication

of

the

offer,

readers

willcontinue

to

question

why

they

should

pay

for

content

that

they

have

been

getting

for

free.Forecasting

a

continued

drop

in

advertising

revenue

mainly

driven

by

Google

and

Facebook

in

addition

to

a

decline

in

print

advertising,

Schibsted’s

subscription

newspapers

see

asustainability

in

charging

for

content.

The

papers

current-

ly

get

60-65%

of

revenues

from

subscriptions,

with

35-40%

coming

from

advertising.

This

is

a

significant

shift

fromfive

years

ago

when

60%

of

revenuescame

from

advertising.KEY

FACTS:Readers7Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesSubscribersDigitalsubscribersNo.

of

peopleModel:

Hybrid

-

Freemium

and

MeteredLaunch:

2012Paid

digital

subscribers:

110,000Price

point:

Kr

199/monthCurrent

reach0200,000400,000600,000800,0001“content,

say

‘thisis

something

youshould

pay

for’.“Simple…

Keep

it

simple,

simple,

simple.

We’re

a

mass

media,

a

strong

reach,

all

demographic

grounds…

It

needs

to

be

easy.

Simplicity

is

a

component

for

success

in

all

paidmedia.”Stefan

Betzold Managing

Director

of

Digital,

BILDGERMANYBILDplusSimplifying

subscriptionsLeading

German

tabloid

focuses

paid

offering

on

just

two

price

points

in

bid

to

exploit

reach

of

20,000,000

in

free

content8Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesGerman

tabloid

BILD

is

among

the

top

10

best-sell-ing

newspapers

in

the

world

and

the

biggest

outsideof

Asia.

Its

subscriber-only

digital

version,

BILD-plus,

launched

in

July

2013

currently

has

more

than

344,000

paying

subscribers.BILD

publisher

Axel

Springer

has

a

stated

objective

tode-

velop

paid-content

revenues

across

its

portfolio.

Its

‘Paid

Models’

segment,

which

also

includes

paid

content

revenues,generated

in

excess

of

€1

billion

in

revenues

in

the

first

ninemonths

of

2016

(includesad

revenues

in

paid

titles).Axel

Springer

has

stated

it

is

focusing

on

increasing

digital

subscription

sales

for

BILD

and

WELT,

which,

according

to

figures

published

by

the

German

Audit

Bureau

of

Circula-tions

(IVW),

sawa

total

growth

rate

of

26%

in

2015

over

the

previous

year.

Growth

appears

to

have

slowedin

2016,

but

wasstill

over

14%

year

on

year

for

BILD

and

WELT

com-

bined.Be

clear

aboutthe

value

of

your“content,say‘thisissomethinBILD’s

first

paid

products

were

introduced

on

the

iPhone

in

2009

and

iPad

in

2010.

BILDpluswaslaunched

in

2013

as

a

cross-platform“brand

subscription”

with

6

different

pricepointsWith

the

introduction

of

BILDplus,

all

paid

app

productswere

integrated

into

the

new

paid

proposition

as

a

single

cross-platform,

cross-device

solution.

At

launch,

BILDof-

fered

6

different

price

points

ranging

from

€4,99

to

€17,99.A

year

later,

BILD

changed

the

pricing,

reducing

the

main

offering

to

two

price

points,

€4.99

per

month

for

BILDplusdigital

and

€9.99

including

the

ePaper

from

BILD

and

BILD’s

Sunday

edition,

BILD

am

Sonntag.The

simplification

of

the

offering

has

had

a

cleareffect;

as

of

the

end

of

2016,

the

number

of

digital

subscribers

to

BILD+

had

increased

by

about

30,000

on

the

previous

year,

a

growthrate

of

around

10%.The

BILDplus

subscriber

recruitment

strategy

rests

on

tar-

geting

the

20

million

unique

users

that

access

the

BILD

website

where

the

majority

of

content

is

free.

This

reach

is

used

to

funnel

potential

subscribers

from

all

editorial

sections

of

the

website

to

subscription

promotions

including

‘99

cent

trial’

or

‘Half

price’

on

annual

subscriptions.When

BILDpluswaslaunched,

Axel

Springer

licensedhigh-

lights

from

the

Bundesliga

to

help

convince

people

to

pay

for

a

product

that

had

previously

been

free.

Moving

forward,premium

sports

content

is

still

promoted

as

a

benefit

for

sub-

scribers.

The

publisher

has

also

broadened

marketing

efforts

to

highlight

its

journalism

more

generally

and

offer

discounts

and

various

deals,including

hardware

bundles

with

tablets,

integrations

into

mobile

phone

price

plans

or

subscription

bundles

with

other

premium

content.KEY

FACTS:Digital

reach20

millionDigital

subscribers344,000Model:

FreemiumLaunch:

2013Paid

digital

subscribers:

344,000Price

point:

€4.99/month9Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesBILD’sfirstpaidproductswer“our

identity“With

the

new

Corriere

offer

we

want

to

take

online

the

in-depth

and

quality

analysis

that

was

once

associated

only

with

a

print

offer.”

1Barbara

Stefanelli Deputy

Editor,

Il

Corriere

della

SeraITALYCorriere

della

SeraTransitioning

from

print

firstLeading

Italian

newspaper

first

with

digital

subscriptions,

launches

with

print

content

while

transitioning

to

cross-platform

teams10Europe’s

successful

paid

content

strategiesItaly’s

newspapers

are

under

real

pressure

-

print

revenuesfell

30%

between

2010

and2014.

Although

digital

incomeis

growing,

online

still

accounts

for

a

minority

share

oftotal

Italian

media

revenues.

Reuters

Institute

reports

just

4%

of

Italians

have

ongoing

digital

news

subscriptions,

andadvertising

models

dominate,

but

publishers

are

beginning

to

explore

paid

content

opportunities.The

first

to

introduce

paid

access

to

online

contentwasmar-

ket

leader

Corriere

dellaSera,

putt