Yesterday I had to pay $1.50 for my single copy of The New York Times.
A little box on the front page explained the increase and told subscribers that their rates will remain the same.
Wrong twice.
The reasons?
First:
European newspapers have been charging a dollar for many years, and now they are heading for the two dollar mark… for newspapers with half the pages of any U.S. daily.
And don’t tell me that U.S. newspapers get their money from advertising.
I know.
But keep in mind that U.S. newspaper advertising rates are also quite a bit cheaper than European ones.
Second:
When you read stories like this one in yesterday’s edition, you realize that The New York Times is what INNOVATION calls a necessary newspaper and, like Starbucks or Target, an “affordable luxury.”
This fantastic piece of real journalism was done with Helene Cooper reporting from Washington, C. J. Chivers from Georgia and Clifford J. Levy from Moscow.
Reporting was contributed by Anne Barnard and Ellen Barry from Moscow; Andrew E. Kramer from Tbilisi, Georgia; Sabrina Tavernise and Matt Siegel from Tskhinvali, Georgia; and Thom Shanker from Washington.
A dollar fifty?
Let’s get serious.
You cannot keep this level of reporting at this price.
So, my suggestions are:
Charge five dollars and increase subscription rates.
Quality information and caviar journalism is not free.
A short latte cannot cost more than The New York Times!
(Picture by Gregory Brown/Flickr)
you are right, again.
Tom,
What is the cost of a single copy Belgian newspaper?
I understand your point, Juan Antonio:
1. Valuable things should value themselves and in that sense the cover price can be used to manage the brand image.
2. A quality newspaper with such a demographics like the New York Times is probably less price elastic than other US papers, so a huge part of its audience could accept the higher price.
However, the brand image is just one of the business factors to consider.
1. If they loose any part of their audience after a hike, would they be able to keep the ad rates? This risk is very serious for the company whose circulation/advertising revenues ratio is like 37/63 (in 2Q 2008).
2. Is it a right moment for such a move when Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal goes into more direct competition with the Times? The Journal’s cover price is $1.50 too now. Would you expect Murdoch to adjust Journal’s price accordingly or to keep it in hope of grabbing some readers from the Times?
Murdoch can surely afford it and he is very experienced in the UK price wars in both tabloid and quality markets. He has also suffered recently when he had increased the price of the (UK) Sunday Times.
Have a look at this interview with the ST editor: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/28/sundaytimes.newspaperformats
”Since a price hike to £2 almost two years ago, [the Sunday Times] has lost 100,000 readers…. [The editor] Witherow fought the price increase, only acceding in order to avoid editorial cuts. “My view is that we did it too quickly and I think we all acknowledge that now… [Paul] Dacre [editor in chief of the Mail titles] said it was a strategic miscalculation of monumental proportions in his typical even-handed way,” he says, laughing. “But it was. We did it too fast and we suffered.”
And I am even not touching your favourite subject: if the NYT’s management is ready to make such a move that involves any risk.
Best, Gregory
PS. By the way: have you spotted our new blog on newspaper’s creativity: forum4editors.com ? I am interested very much in your opinion.
Mr Giner,
it is a very interesting issue. I will really appreciate if you could answer me some questions:
it is true that the NY Times has at least twice the pages of any european daily, but it is also the reason why they have more ads, and the opportunity to charge for location inside the sections.
how cheaper are the U.S. newspaper advertising rates from the European?
who can beat their circulation 1,100,000 mon-sat and 1,600,000 sundays in europe?
Is the NYT a healthier newspaper business than any other paper in europe?
Thank you.
ps
De Morgen is 1 euro. De Standaard 1.20
To Gregory,
It seems to me that you cannot compare the quality and demographics of the NYT with the Sunday Times.
The NYT has been very succesfuk charging a fortune for premium brands and premium positions in pages 3 to 5, so it shows that its demographics are excellent.
And they will be nore and more interesting for advertisers looking for AB readers.
Like The Economist does.
To Alejandro,
Yes, has at least twice the pages of an average European newspaper, charges advertiser perhaps half and yes, as I said, they get charge quite more for ads in pages 3 to 5.
I am sorry but I don´t see any European newspaper that could be compared to the NYT.
Which newspaper employs more than 1.000 reporters, editors and visual journalists?
Nobody in the world.
No, it’s not, and that’s the reason that they need to charge more for copies and ads.
Thank you to both for your comments.