Graphic: OC Register
Like the Los Angeles Times but a few years later, the new owners of the Orange County Register have made a wrong move by announcing a “paywall” per the email notice below and this story at the OC Weekly:
Print subscribers will have full access to the website, but only for those days they actually pay for delivery. If you buy the paper out of a box, you’re hosed.
Since we are everyday print subscribers, this isn’t all that troublesome. We were much unhappier with the significant increase in subscription cost — over 20% — which we were awarded after the paper’s acquisition by Aaron Kushner. But paywalls can be a pain, and this one better work better than the Times’ which has generated a lot of customer complaints. They’re also easily defeated, and a determined user won’t have issues getting onto the site.
There’s a question regarding quality as well — the Register’s website has never been as good as the Times’, especially in searching for archival material, even though they use the same basic software that’s become a world-standard for blogs (like this one) and electronic media. We’ve often also found items in the deadwood Register that don’t make it to the website for a day or more. That needs fixing.
Will the paywall be a “value add”? Not likely, since it won’t add any additional content, it will just be annoyingly in the way and generate only a little revenue. We hoped the Register might have avoided this, and concentrated on rebuilding the paper, additional acquisitions and staying a step ahead in this era of fast dwindling newspaper readership. The Register has more productive things to accomplish than nickle and diming its readers.
Roy,
They told me some time ago what their “new” business model was. Make the paper and the content so unbelievably great that people would be glad to pay.
If the New York Times couldn’t get people to pay for their online content how can OCR? Heck, after 30 years even I no longer subscribe to the 7 day OCR. I miss it but it was just too fast to read. I just didn’t find enough value there to subscribe again.
I feel sad about it, the entire newspaper business model is just going away. Someone has to do news gathering, bloggers can’t do it for pay, they have to do it like you do, for the fun of it.
Newspapers have employees who need to be paid but unfortunately there is just no money in it anymore.
It’s a shame. It really is.
As to the subscription cost, it has not been increased 20%.
There are people in OC paying $250 a year, and there are people in OC paying $76. Both for the 7 day OCR.
Side by side on the same street.
That’s another whole story.
The Wall Street Journal is the only print publication I’ve heard of that has a successful Internet subscription model. Check out the post we made a few days ago re. bringing back the OCN. I think that’s their answer — start bringing an electronic side of the enterprise into the OC and demonopolize it in LA County.