Comments on: Corporate suicide or earth-shattering money making scheme? http://www.propellernet.co.uk/blog/2009/11/corporate-suicide-or-earth-shattering-money-making-scheme/ Online Marketing Blog posting on topics including Search Engine Marketing, Online PR, Social Media, Conversion Optimisation and Brand Engagement Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:25:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Dave Lees http://www.propellernet.co.uk/blog/2009/11/corporate-suicide-or-earth-shattering-money-making-scheme/comment-page-1/#comment-630 Dave Lees Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:36:17 +0000 http://www.propellernet.co.uk/blog/?p=518#comment-630 Hi Hugh, I think even the freesheets are struggling at the moment. Earlier this year Metro International announced a third-quarter net loss of almost 9 million euros and thelondonpaper also stopped publication. Whilst the recession may be coming to an end, it's hurt both free newspapers and paid ones who rely heavily on advertising. If News Corps losses are mainly down to the recession and a drop in advertising revenue then I agree Murdoch could be jumping too soon. He should instead be waiting for the economy to bounce back rather than charging for news which is freely accessible elsewhere. Dave Hi Hugh,

I think even the freesheets are struggling at the moment. Earlier this year Metro International announced a third-quarter net loss of almost 9 million euros and thelondonpaper also stopped publication.

Whilst the recession may be coming to an end, it’s hurt both free newspapers and paid ones who rely heavily on advertising.

If News Corps losses are mainly down to the recession and a drop in advertising revenue then I agree Murdoch could be jumping too soon. He should instead be waiting for the economy to bounce back rather than charging for news which is freely accessible elsewhere.

Dave

]]> By: Hugh Gage http://www.propellernet.co.uk/blog/2009/11/corporate-suicide-or-earth-shattering-money-making-scheme/comment-page-1/#comment-628 Hugh Gage Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:06:20 +0000 http://www.propellernet.co.uk/blog/?p=518#comment-628 David, I think this is an interesting article. Maybe Murdoch and all the others committed corporate suicide 10 years ago when they first made the decision to offer their content for free based on the ad funded model. By doing that they set an expectation in the consumer mind that could never really be broken. The only thing that's slighly baffling is how they can make freesheets work as a business and not web publishing outlets. I would have thought freesheets are more expensive to produce. I imagine that they also charge a lot more for the ad space. The price of a page in Metro was certainly pretty high 7 years ago when it was first launched. Maybe the ad funded model has yet to reach full maturity in terms of corect ad pricing on quality news outlet sites and Mr. Murdoch is jumping too soon. David, I think this is an interesting article. Maybe Murdoch and all the others committed corporate suicide 10 years ago when they first made the decision to offer their content for free based on the ad funded model. By doing that they set an expectation in the consumer mind that could never really be broken.

The only thing that’s slighly baffling is how they can make freesheets work as a business and not web publishing outlets. I would have thought freesheets are more expensive to produce. I imagine that they also charge a lot more for the ad space. The price of a page in Metro was certainly pretty high 7 years ago when it was first launched. Maybe the ad funded model has yet to reach full maturity in terms of corect ad pricing on quality news outlet sites and Mr. Murdoch is jumping too soon.

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