Digital, paid content may be the future of the newspaper industry but it’s proven hard to get there.
PaidContent has a piece out on Pearson’s Financial Times unit’s financial performance for 2008. According to PC, after posting flat results in paid subscriber growth in 2007, FT put up a 9% growth in paid subscriptions on a 5-fold increase in non-paying registrations in 2008. Digital subscription business has better margins than its offline brother, so net income went up by a greater percentage.
We previously wrote about Wall Street’s, in particular, Blackstone’s reluctance, to pay for premium content (eg FT subscriptions). While Wall Street may not be paying, someone is, though the monetization isn’t great. I don’t love the fact that a 500% jump in free regs only monetizes at a 9% rate. That said, the free vs. paid model is still in its infancy.
According to FT.com’s boss, compared the airline industry’s tiered, inventory yield model, the publishing industry is nowhere near the sophistication of its revenue model. Maybe he’s hinting at what’s to come off the back of some uplifting numbers.
