Local subscriptions 2.0

While hyperlocal weekly magazines tend to thrive on advertising, the local dailies seem to have a somewhat harder time making ends meet. In fact you could say that wasn’t it for the former bringing home the bacon for the latter, the prospects for local media companies would be really bleak.

My argument is that they still are. The hyperlocal market is a very interesting one from an advertising point-of-view, and the barriers to entry within the digital space is next to nothing. Therefore any local newspaper man/woman should be up at night wondering where the long knife is going to come from. And what to do about it.

One of the things to do would be to look at the subscription models. They are ancient, and I don’t think it would be claiming to much to say that they’re up for a service check. Why? Because people increasingly decide not to take out a subscription.

There can be many reasons for this, but I’m sure the combination of lack of time and relevance is one of them. It’s simply not worth peoples time or money to take out a subscription on the local newspaper. But how could that be changed?

Well, what if the newspaper started to offer its content in bits and pieces. Like knots and bolts. Or different flavors of ice cream? Let me give an example.

Suppose I was very interested in local sports and child care. Why not allow me to sign up for a subscription based on that with digital delivery? I would perhaps be willing to shell out a dollar a day in a subscription, if I was guaranteed in-depth coverage of my favorite local sports team and my child’s kindergarten.

What I should essentially be watching or monitoring myself, I would gladly outsource to somebody else - and send a cheque with it. It would be worthwhile to me. It would be worth my time. And that is the recipe for getting me to pay for content.

Why do newspapers insist on this plagued notion that they are the ones who need to prioritize and package my local news? Why not focus the resources on depth and let me handle the breadth myself? I am aware that I risked missing something important, but then throw in a free section with all the important stuff along with the things I subscribe to. It would still be a great value proposition to me and something to build my loyalty as a subscriber from. And that should be the end goal.