Paid content merger to provide better data for publishers

Digital subscriptions provider Press+ and European paywall firm Piano Media have joined forces, drawing on the experience of more than 600 titles to better understand paid publishing models.

The merger has resulted in a "deep set of data about what's working for publishers in the paid content space", according to Piano Media chief executive Kelly Leach, that would help inform the development of future strategies.

Leach told Journalism.co.uk it was important for publishers to "understand what kinds of content will prompt people to subscribe, and to evolve the product and the content to better suit the paid model as opposed to having the strategy for digital so pointed in the direction of online advertising".

I think there's still a reluctance on the part of publishers [towards paid content models]Kelly Leach, Piano Media

She said the data from Piano and Press+ products could be used for sharing best practices, and she planned to show publishers that "building a digital paid content business doesn't have to come at the expense of having a healthy digital advertising business".

Subscription uptake in the UK is still low, as only 7 per cent of people in the UK are prepared to subscribe to digital content, compared to 24 per cent in the US, according to survey data released yesterday by cloud technology company CloudSense.

Some 58 per cent of those polled by CloudSense in the UK said they spent less than £1 on media content a week, with the figure increasing to 78 per cent for 16 to 24 year-olds.

“It’s clear from the results that publishers have much pressing work to do in creating a positive online user experience," said CloudSense chief executive Richard Britton in a press release, "and to develop exciting new reasons for readers to subscribe or make ad-hoc payments."

Greg Dunbar, global sales director at CloudSense, told Journalism.co.uk that although some people say if the quality of the content is good enough audiences will pay, but it is not "as simple as that".

"I think there's a lot of very good quality content out there, and audiences are consuming that content," he said. "The problem is how to actually monetise it."

The trick to getting people to pay for content is "more in the technology" – making it easier for them to get started, packaging the content with existing products, and being able to test and retest pricing or bundles.

Leach, whose move to the company from Dow Jones was also announced yesterday, said the experience and success of large general interest publishers like the New York Times has made others more willing to consider paid content, even if they originally focused on online advertising.

There isn't one right answerKelly Leach, Piano Media

While some publishers are looking at developing alternative revenue streams, Leach said there is still some concern that implementing a paid model would hurt existing sources of income, such as advertising.

"I think there's still a reluctance on the part of publishers [towards paid content models]," she said, "and still some amount of doubt about the ability of a paywall to coexist with the advertising revenue stream."

A metered model of allowing free access to a limited number of articles, or a freemium model of only charging for select types of content are proven alternatives, said Leach.

Other opportunities would emerge as strategies evolve, she said, like creating fixed collections of content that publishers could charge for, but the variety in strategy and success of digital subscription models meant "there isn't one right answer".

Leach said the new Piano Media has set its sights on publishers in Latin America and Asia, who are starting to become more interested in developing a digital revenue stream from paid content. Magazines in the US and Europe are also increasingly interested in setting up paid models, she said.

Piano Media launched an independent paywall last year called Piano Solo for publishers in western Europe, after its experience with national paywalls in Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia from 2010.

Update: This article has been updated with quotes from Greg Dunbar, global sales director, CloudSense.

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