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NEWS IN ENGLISH | Positive interim results for DIE WELT’s paid-content model
Positive interim results for DIE WELT’s paid-content model
2013-08-08 12:49:00
More than 47,000 digital subscribers as of June 30, 2013 / New business model validated by stable reach development and rising advertising revenues
People are willing to pay for journalism in the digital sphere, too, as evidenced by the development of DIE WELT's digital subscription sales as at June 2013. A little more than half a year after introducing its new usage-dependent paid-content model, the multimedia brand DIE WELT has signed up more than 47,000 digital subscribers. That number already represents more than 20 % of the print circulation of DIE WELT (IVW II/2013: 227,248 copies). In addition to the 47,000 digital subscribers, another 27,000 print subscribers have opted to access digital content as part of their brand subscription. The new paid-content model, under which up to 20 articles per month can be accessed free of charge, has not had a negative impact on reach; on the contrary, the reach of WELT Online has continued to exhibit a positive development. Since the preceding quarter, the multimedia brand DIE WELT has made gains across all platforms and now reaches 1.42 million users per day (daily net reach for the period from April 1, 2013 to June 30, 2013, audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP). Stephanie Caspar, Chairwoman of the Management Board of WELT Group: "We are very encouraged by the progress of our paid-content model in the first half of this year. We are already generating significant circulation revenues in our digital business - while advertising revenues continue to rise. Thus, we believe that our digitization strategy is the right course of action. It is certainly too early to say how digital subscription models will perform in the long term. But the interim results are very positive and that encourages us to continue the experiment." Jan-Eric Peters, Editor-in-Chief of WELT Group: "We are thrilled that readers are impressed with the quality of our content, also in the digital sphere. The fact that more than three quarters of users chose to continue their subscriptions after the trial phase, despite the availability of many free alternatives, makes it very clear that many people value the journalism of DIE WELT." In December 2012, DIE WELT was the first major national newspaper brand to introduce a genuine brand subscription. Under this plan, all subscribers to the newspaper receive unlimited access to digital content - including not only the website, but also the apps for smartphones and tablet computers - at no additional cost. For its website, DIE WELT employs a usage-dependent payment model ("metered model"). On DIE WELT Online, users can read up to 20 articles per month free of charge. Users can read 21 or more articles by paying a subscription fee, while the cover page remains free of charge. All three subscription plans (EUR 4.49, EUR 12.99 and EUR 14.99) can be purchased for only 99 cents each in the first-month trial phase. Source:axelspringer.de
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