Expect a price hike?

If you think you're already paying a fair whack for your IHT every day...then you should subscribe.

But if you still find that pricey....then you should pay by monthly direct debit (very reasonable).

But if you still find that a little heavy on your wallet then I should be ready to expect a price increase.

The NYT seems to be following a popular trend which is this: daily newspaper readers may be declining, no one will pay for online content (witness TimesSelect), but they can still milk the loyal cash cow readers.

Which, if you are reading this blog, is probably you.

Here's this from Media Bistro (Wednesday 23rd July, 2008)

Up, Up, and Away: NYT to Raise Newsstand Price

That was fast. Just this morning the Times released its (demoralizing) second quarter earnings and shortly thereafter on a conference call to discuss the report New York Times Co. president and CEO Janet Robinson announced that as of Aug. 18 the paper would be raising its newsstand prices from $1.25 to $1.50.
Newsstand price hikes are all the rage these days, it seems. Just last week the WSJ announced it was upping its price by fifty cents, and this past May the NYPost doubled its price. We're not schooled in the background economics of these decisions, however, is it really a good idea to make something that less people want that much harder to get?


Quite. MediaBistro are not schooled in the background economics of these decisions, but actually, to my mind, it is a good idea. If 25cents is going to lose a reader, they will migrate to the web where their 25cents will probably be earned back in page views.

Plus, the more they charge the reader the more they can go on to advertisers about core readers/loyalty/real page impressions. In short even a smaller circulation can earn more money if the CPMs go up (cost per thousands) and the demographic of the print product moves up-scale. Plus they save money on print and circulation costs. NB Circulation revenues for the NYT rose 1.2% (if my memory serves me) in Q2 and the woman in charge of their marketing is a circulation genius who will almost certainly one day be the head honcho of the NYT newspaper, and eventually, company. Yasmin Namini is the name and a very bright spark.

So in short the NYT moves towards an existing IHT model - you might not be a HNWI (Hight Net Worth Individual) but that's sure what the ad sales team are telling the print advertisers, most of whom now are either 'green energy' advertisers OR luxury goods.



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