Here’s news for those of you who have ever heard the word “monetize” in the same sentence as “newspaper website.”
The Hartford Courant is now the only Tribune property that does not have some sort of pay wall in place for its website.
What are the factors that figure into when or if the Courant puts up a wall?
I guess the big question for the company — one I would want to answer with some sort of market research — is how many readers would pay $14.99 for the privilege. Could the company tolerate what would inevitably be a huge circulation dip initially, and how long would it last? Is there a way to ease free readers into becoming paying customers?
And the big question for a reader: Is access to the work of the state’s largest news operation worth $14.99?
Discuss.
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Since the projected launch has been delayed, this question surely is undergoing deep thought at 06115. I wonder what exactly what would go behind the wall to make it worth paying for? There’s so much good stuff at the Courant but the common Globe-like”premium” approach of putting columnists and WSJ high-interest coverage behind the money fence pales some when there are so few columnists and the staff has been whittled down so much. The trap of local news, exposed so sadly when we did it in such abundance before is you can never do it right because local means different things everywhere. What’s local news to me in West Hartford in Mozambique to someone east of the river. The fender-bender and pothole in Tolland isn’t something I’d pay to read about. So if it isn’t the “local” news and it isn’t the personalities and it isn’t the in-depth WSJ coverage not available anywhere else what is it? There is excellent political coverage and the LenderWorld is premium and Korky vann and theater and the like, but is that enough to constitute a behind-the-wall mall?
And does skinnying up the standard product on behalf of the wall not ultimately lead to fewer people gathering the news, features and special reports that would be the fare of the wall itself? There’s a spiral in that.
Tricky game. Don’t know where it’s working where there’s not something especially compelling to lure the readers to the new locale.
Hopefully they’ll find the path.