Comments on: Washington Post gauging readers’ willingness on paid content, both on new iPhone app and on the website

By: News Channels to Charge Viewers | SmallJournalism

News Channels to Charge Viewers | SmallJournalism — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:00:49 +0000

[...] is no secret that online newspapers, like the NY Times, Sunday Times, and Washington Post are making plans to charge their online readers. Flying under the radar, however, is a plan by [...]

By: Paschal Fowlkes

Paschal Fowlkes — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:41:26 +0000

I agree with Mac. There’s no question that the low (super low, really, for a year-long sub) price point is intended to facilitate the free-to-paid transition — one you don’t have to be Chris Anderson to see as pretty damn significant. If it takes (and I think it will), in-app sales and higher subscription rates require only incremental behavior for users.

By: What do you get for $1.99? « The Now/ledge

What do you get for $1.99? « The Now/ledge — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:18:02 +0000

[...] react to paying for content,” Goli Sheikholeslami, VP and GM for the digital ops at the Post told Nieman Journalism Lab. “It really provides us with a platform for [...]

By: Adithya Ananth

Adithya Ananth — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:18:44 +0000

I’m imagining tailor made content for an additional fee, which would make things really interesting.

Take any newspaper/website that you’d read on a regular basis, and more often than not the attention of the reader is concentrated on specific sections/authors that make interesting (a relative term) reading.

It would be fantastic if they could introduce an add on that could have the user input keywords of sections or perhaps their favourite authors, which would filter out content and have a tailor made feed readily available.

By: Howard Weaver

Howard Weaver — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:17:32 +0000

yatesc: You must not watch much cable TV.

By: yatesc

yatesc — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:34:29 +0000

Either charge me money *or* show me ads. Not both. NEVER both.

(Also, make the app less bad.) (I am *very* demanding. :P)

By: Mac Slocum

Mac Slocum — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:26:13 +0000

Now that’s what I call service! Thanks for following up on this!

One thing that occurs to me: going from free to paid is much harder than going from a lower price to a higher price. There’s the whole expectation issue. So perhaps the $1.99 price point is just setting that expectation — albeit a very low expectation — within the realm of “for-pay” and then they’ll see how it plays out from there.

Maybe this simply the classic “introductory offer.” If they toss in a football phone, I’m sold!