Newspapers offering free CDs and DVDs to attract readers
In a letter about pay-rises to staff at the Sun last year, Britain’s biggest-selling newspaper, Rebekah Wade, its editor, remarked that in future the paper’s success would probably depend more on free CDs and DVDs than on its journalists. British newspapers are frenziedly giving things away, and in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and throughout Latin America papers are also increasingly relying on freebies to try to attract new readers. In Britain the circulation of national newspapers fell by 3 percent in 2005, following a 2 percent decline in 2004. The same pattern of falling circulation is being repeated across Europe and the United States. So are all the free gifts a sign of desperation from newspapers, or an entirely sensible new marketing strategy? Ideally, a giveaway attracts brand-new readers who keep on buying the paper. Newspapers particularly hope that CDs and DVDs will appeal to the young — who are increasingly getting their news online.
Source: The Economist
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In fact circulation numbers in Canada have been falling at about 5 percent a year for the last decade. The problem with give-aways is they alter the relationship between buyer and seller whether the give-away is in the form of a discount on subscriptions or items such as CDs or trip or whatever the gimmick of the month happens to be. The real indicator of falling circulation are the churn rates. In other words, how many subscriptions do you have sell in order to retain your current levels. Readers are not fools. The result of the give-away or discount strategy is customers will not renew unless you provide incentives. They also increase your churn rate since many will not fall for the same incentive twice. The real issue here is that newspapers must find their niche in an electronic world that demands instant gratification on all fronts. How does 19th century concepts fit into a 21st century electronic world? The newspaper industry must tackle the question with a great deal of creativity and, dare I say it, speed.
Comment by Bill McIntyre — January 29, 2006 @ 7:00 pm