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Just Published: Pricing
Strategies for Newspapers
In an era when free
newspapers are booming, paid-for newspapers are reconsidering
their pricing strategies. The different practices adopted by newspapers
around the world are examined in a new report from the World Association
of Newspapers.
"Pricing Strategies,"
the sixth report in an annual series of six strategy reports from
the WAN Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, provides
an in-depth examination of pricing concepts and policies, a wealth
of information on newspaper cover price strategies, and a guide
to measuring price elasticity. It includes case studies of high
price strategies, low price strategies, and even "free"
pricing strategies, and their impact on sales, perceived value
and advertising.
"Our examples
show that, in many cases, raising the price can generate income
without negatively impacting circulation or revenues, provided
that some of those revenues are reinvested in the editorial product,
" the report says. It recommends investing a proportion of
the increase in innovation, supplements and editorial excellence.
"In essence you
invest in your 'centre of gravity' and most of all do not cheat
the reader for commercial gain, because that is not sustainable,"
says the report, which is available exclusively to members of
WAN, the global association of the world's press.
Case studies examine
in "Pricing Strategies" include The Irish Independent
and the Star Newspaper in Ireland, the highly competitive Romanian
newspaper market, 24Sata in Croatia, The Times of London, and
others. The report also includes a review of industry practices
by delegates of the Leaders Newspaper Executive Development programme,
which trains top newspaper executives and helps newspapers implement
business-unit strategies (More on the Leaders programme at http://www.simi.dk/article.aspx?articleid=+371+371
).
The table of contents
and the executive summary of "Pricing Strategies" can
be downloaded at http://www.wan-press.org/article11170.html .
The SFN project, which
WAN conducts with five strategic business partners, identifies,
analyses and publicises all important breakthroughs and opportunities
that can benefit newspapers all over the world.
The "Pricing Strategies"
report and the five other Strategy Reports in the 2006 series
-- New Revenue Strategies, Digital Classifieds, Outsourcing, New
Editorial Concepts, and Advertising Science -- are now available
exclusively to WAN members. More about the SFN project, and the
benefits of membership in WAN, can be found at http://www.futureofthenewspaper.com
.
In addition to the
annual strategy reports, SFN provides WAN members with a library
of case studies and business ideas, and a wealth of other vital
information for all those who need to follow press industry trends.
WAN conducts the SFN
project with support from five international partners -- PubliGroupe,
the Swiss-based international advertising and promotion group;
MAN Roland, a leading company for newspaper production systems;
UPM-Kymmene, one of the world's leading printing paper producers;
Telenor, the leading Norwegian telecommunications, IT and media
group; and Samsung Electronics, a global leader in semiconductor,
telecommunication, and digital convergence technology.
The Paris-based WAN,
the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents
18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 73 national newspaper
associations, newspapers and newspaper executives in 102 countries,
11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups.
Inquiries to: Larry
Kilman, Director of Communications, WAN, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire,
75005 Paris France. Tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00. Fax: +33 1 47 42 49
48. Mobile: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: lkilman@wan.asso.fr |
