Five Reasons Why a Digital Magazine Should Not be Hidden Behind a Paywall

I went to the Apple Store last week to buy an iPad. Yeah, I know that’s really opportunistic. There has been a shortage since May, but nothing comes from nothing, so I gave it a try. The popularity seems to be never-ending with more than 3 million iPads sold in less than 100 days.

Success for Wired – but at a price

The success of the iPad seems to be the lifejacket to the majority of established publishing companies - at least at first sight. Among the most well-known examples is tech magazine Wired, which launched an iPad version at the modest introduction price of $5 per issue in June. Critics of the price level argued that it was not worth the money when a full year’s subscription of the print version is priced at $10. The Wired App sold very well, but the critics had been heard, so at the very last minute, the publisher lowered the price for the app by 20%.

News sites in UK dumped usage after adding paywalls

In United Kingdom, two of the most well-known news titles, The Times and The Sunday Times, started to charge for use of their websites in June. The initial results don’t look promising: Usage of the sites has dropped almost 50%, while the sites are losing market shares.

The business model of the iPad has added new fuel to the evergreen discussion on whether you should put a paywall on your online content or not. Here are five reasons why we at Zmags generally recommend our customers in publishing to NOT charge for content:

The Internet was built on links.

The most important and most obvious of all reasons that publishers of digital magazines often forget in their hunt for revenue. The World Wide Web was built on the idea of hyperlinking. A reference to your website from somebody else’s website is a sign of credibility to your content. Just think about how most search engines rank websites: A high number of quality backlinks is a clear indication of importance and credibility. Thus, the amount of links to your website is the single most important factor for search engine rankings. When adding a paywall to your content, you are losing that credibility while shrinking reach.

Paywalls prevent readership from growing.

It takes a strong brand to justify a price tag.

Most of the stories you hear about when it comes to deploying paywall strategies are from magazines or newspapers with strong brands. Even a strong title like Time Magazine has struggled with putting the right pricing model to their digital magazine, which – like in the Wired case – met a lot of criticism. Most likely your brand is not as strong as the examples here, and in that case, you will struggle, which will make it difficult to attract new readers. Why would a regular reader pay up-front for your content? And in case you are distributing to mobile through apps: How can the readers find your magazine app in the haystack of more than 225,000 apps?

Only dedicated readers will pay for your online content.

Unless you happen to be in a niche market with no competition and readers are left with no other choice but your digital magazine to get their regular updates, a paywall is a roadblock. Do you have a dedicated online community? Do your readers rely on your content as a key source for information? If yes, a paywall is an option. If not, keep access to your digital magazine open.

Online content has been free for more than a decade.

One difficult thing to change in the human mind is a habit. And web users all over the world are now in the habit of getting online updates whenever and wherever – and at no cost. Some digital magazines for tablet PCs may find a sweet spot here, as the media is new and uncharted. But in general, it is hopeless to try to change that collective habit.

So what do we advise customers at Zmags to do? A much safer path is to build a strategy that grows and monetizes the audience. Digital magazines delivered across all platforms happen to be a great match here.

A good way to get started is to read this eBook: Profitable Magazine Publishing is a good source if you are looking for a monetizing opportunity with your digital magazine.