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By Stefan Arnold, January 31, 2010 12:52 pm

In Week-old News, I look at the biggest stories from the past week that involve newspapers, the internet and social media.

Newsday’s numbers

Newsday paywall subscriber numbers draw ridicule: Executives at Long Island-based newspaper Newsday told staffers recently that its Web Site, Newsday.com, has 35 new subscribers to the site after implementing a paywall in October. The New York Observer’s John Koblin reports here that publisher Terry Jimenez told a meeting of newsroom employees of the low number for the $5-a-week plan, after which the reporter who asked the question clarified the number.

The Observer goes on to discuss the cost of the Web site’s October revamping ($4 million) and how the paper’s staff has become increasingly disgruntled since the Dolan family bought the paper.

The low subscribers numbers were explained away by a spokeswoman who noted that readers with Optimum Online high-speed internet service, owned by the Dolans and Cablevision, get access to the Web site for free, as do subscribers to the paper.

Meanwhile, David Goetzl of Mediapost.com reported more numbers on Newsday.com’s performance here. The report said Newsday.com unique visitors dropped by 1.3 million in December of 2009 from December 2008, and total page views were 8.9 million fewer. The report says the drastic reader declines started in November, which executives previously claimed was due to hangover from the 2008 presidential campaign.

Newsday responds to criticism: After taking flack from critics about the subscriber numbers, Newsday editor Debby Krenek told Staci D. Kramer of Paidcontent.org here that because Newsday and cable customers can get access to the Web Site: “Given the number of households in our market that have access to Newsday‘s web site as a result of other subscriptions, it is no surprise that a relatively modest number have chosen the pay option.”

Cablevision’s President of Local Media,  Tad Smith, explained the strategy to the staff in a memo that Gawker.com put online here. In the memo Smith states: “Newsday’s web strategy has two parts: 1) to provide Newsday’s print subscribers with a rich web experience that goes far beyond what they can get in the newspaper alone, thereby motivating them to remain, return, or choose to subscribe to Newsday; and 2) to provide Cablevision’s high-speed Internet customers with reasons to remain with Cablevision, reasons to return to Cablevision, or reasons to choose Cablevision.”

Smith wants the paper’s focus to be on unique New York metro visitors and goes on talk about the Web Site’s performance: “Reported visitors in the New York metro area declined by a remarkably low 2 percent: from 657,000 in December 2008 to 643,000 in December 2009.”

More views on the paywall: Mark Potts takes a deeper look at the subscription methodology here. In his analysis, he describes Newsday’s unique factors, including geography and being owned by Cablevision. He says the paper isn’t concerned in the slightest with non-local readers. Potts ends his comments with a warning that the low subscribers should worry other papers investigating the paywall model, specifically naming McClatchy as well as the New York Times.

Also, Peter Preston reports from The Guardian here that the Newsday’s paywall model may be copied in the future by media conglomerates, including by Rupert Murdoch.

The paywall itself: If one believes a paywall on a Web Site is to serve one of two main purposes, maintaining/increasing revenue or maintaining/increasing customers, does Newsday’s paywall do either?

• Increasing revenue: The paper has added 35 subscribers since implementing the paywall. At $260 a year, that’s $9,100. With likely lower ad revenue from the less visitors (a reported 8.9 million fewer page views in December), revenue is bound to be lower. And Krenek claims the paper covers about 75 percent of Long Island households through Newsday or Optimum. OK, so for the other 25 percent of households on the island AND everyone outside the New York metro area, the paper has sold 35 subscriptions. That is an astounding low number no matter how it is justified.
• Increasing customers: Smith uses the phrase “remain, return, or choose to subscribe” for both Newsday and the high-speed internet access as reasons why online access would be a valuable addition for customers.

Does Smith really believe that more than a handful of people would subscribe to the paper for access to the Web site? How many people, who don’t subscribe to the paper, would be convinced to subscribe in able to get online access? What does Newsday.com offer so uniquely that customers can’t find it for free at other sites, without signing up for Newsday?

And for high-speed internet access, would customers “remain, return, or choose” Cablevision’s option instead of satellite or Verizon just for access? The vast majority of Long Island customers likely choose their service like everyone else … on speed, reliability and cost. Adding Newsday.com access is unlikely to be a deciding factor, especially considering, as Paidcontent.org points out, there is a “gaping hole in the wall called mobile.newsday.com.” That hole will only grow bigger as smartphones and mobile tablet computers, including Apple’s new iPad, gain marketshare of online usage.

If the two criteria above are the basis for using a paywall, I’m unconvinced that Newsday is benefiting from theirs.

What do you think of Newsday’s paywall …. and the 35 subscibers?

Fly on the news

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