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News & Events Digital Media

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cramdogs

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Clicking on the herald sun website is normal routine for me in the morning to see whats going on. But today the site looks revamped, and many of the articles its telling me I have to sign up for my FREE 2 month pass!

It's telling me, ALL NEW DESIGN, WEBSITE JUST GOT BETTER, GET MORE OF WHAT YOU LOVE.....

sooo in other words, it won't be free in 2 months, and we'll have to pay? Is this something more news sites will/are doing?

Wouldn't all the advertisment they flog on the site be enough to sustain the site without having to pay? Otherwise, it's time for me to swing to the Age.
 
I noticed the same thing but I have a feeling that the Age will be implementing a paywall in the future too. Yes the HS site is "upgraded" but at least half of the articles I clicked on were either truncated or not showing at all. The live Supercoach scores might be a bit of a coup for some, but I'd want to make sure everything is compatible with my mobile phone before I would go ahead with a subscription. Unfortunately Windows Phone 7 is often left out in the dark with these sorts of things (incompatible with the AFL Telstra Game Pass for example).
 
Caesar said:
News Ltd is gradually putting all their sites behind paywalls. Started a couple of years ago.
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Not in Australia its not. Wont take off.
 

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Blissid said:
Not in Australia its not. Wont take off.
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Yep. You only need to look at the amount of hate that the HS is getting on their facebook page and this live feedback blog they're running. People saying that they're now "ex-readers" because there are plenty of other free news sources online. It's a risky move imo by the big corporations
 
Gibbsy. said:
Yep. You only need to look at the amount of hate that the HS is getting on their facebook page and this live feedback blog they're running. People saying that they're now "ex-readers" because there are plenty of other free news sources online. It's a risky move imo by the big corporations
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I'd say they'll be trying to leverage off their football coverage to get people to subscribe. I'm damn sure there is nothing else worth pissing on in that revolting rag.

Of course, some football content is still free. Like us.

In terms of advertising, the theory is that it is partially offset by subscriptions but also that the HS is able to provide to potential advertisers much more detailed demographic information on their fully registered viewing base for which they would, in theory, pay a premium.

May not get Audi or Tag Heuer rushing there, but the makers of pre mix cans and Centrelink will have "their people" on board.
 
there's a big difference between reading the herald sun daily and soaking up its average journalism and paying for it

same if FTA TV were to charge people to watch ACA and Today Tonight, its ratings would seriously plummet

if the quality was there more would continue reading, but its just not, i'm amazed at the amount of people that even read it for free
 
This is crazy, has this been used to success elsewhere? Considering how many free and easy substitutes there are, how can this possibly work? The only thing they have as leverage here is the footy and supercoach, and I really think supercoach is the only reason they are doing this. They want to lock in the hundreds and thousands of supercoach players, me included. Can't say I am happy about this at all.
 
I'd argue that without Supercoach pushing the traffic through the AFL site, they'd be behind where they should be. Terrible site, with little innovation or digital strategy that actually engages.

As for the bin liner that is The Hun, they really offer nothing. News? What news? Cats up trees? The rantings of Bolt? Half-arsed news coverage? The semi-literate gurglings of their sports reporters (I'm at loathe to use the term journalist)? Nah, there's nothing there worth paying for online. But yes, to pick up on Messenger's point: great timing with the footy to bring it in.
 

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I clicked on the learn more bit and from what i can work out the digital pass means you get access to more content. Whether that means the free articles will be stripped back further remains to be seen.
 

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I stopped sourcing the tabloid trash HS to obtain news and information quite a few years ago. For me, there's no big worry about what they are doing as there is an endless pit of free news on the interweb.
 
pepsi said:
People will turn to other free options. Cannot see any decent % of people actually paying to read HS articles online.
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Exactly.
 
Aldo said:
This is crazy, has this been used to success elsewhere? Considering how many free and easy substitutes there are, how can this possibly work? The only thing they have as leverage here is the footy and supercoach, and I really think supercoach is the only reason they are doing this. They want to lock in the hundreds and thousands of supercoach players, me included. Can't say I am happy about this at all.
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I know the Times in the UK set up a paywall on their website a couple of years ago, not sure how successful it has been but they still have a paywall there so it must have been reasonably successful. The difference is that they are a much higher quality newspaper than the HUN with much higher standards of journalism so people would probably be more prepared to pay for it.
 

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