It Looks Like the Herald is Going Paywall

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#2228593 1-May-2019 11:30

I went and had a look at the herald site after they launched (probably the first time in ages I've had more than a glance at it). There was one premium article I wanted to finish reading. So I googled its headline and read it for free on another site.

surfisup1000

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#2228594 1-May-2019 11:31

Handsomedan:

Used a sign in to view the premium stuff today...have to say that it is massively disappointing to see so much advertising on the site AFTER paying for the access to the articles in question.

If you pay, you shouldn't have advertising...

The herald and stuff business models are apparently unsustainable.

Herald cannot survive on ads or subscription fees alone. High subscription fees with no ads would mean subscription numbers are too low to cover costs.

So a blend of ads with low subscription fees seems a reasonable approach.

Would you pay $10 a week to have an ad free experience?

quickymart

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#2228597 1-May-2019 11:38

I couldn't see any "Premium" content on the Android app at all - unless I'm missing something?

tdgeek

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#2228599 1-May-2019 11:41

surfisup1000:

Handsomedan:

Used a sign in to view the premium stuff today...have to say that it is massively disappointing to see so much advertising on the site AFTER paying for the access to the articles in question.

If you pay, you shouldn't have advertising...

The herald and stuff business models are apparently unsustainable.

Herald cannot survive on ads or subscription fees alone. High subscription fees with no ads would mean subscription numbers are too low to cover costs.

So a blend of ads with low subscription fees seems a reasonable approach.

Would you pay $10 a week to have an ad free experience?

I am ok with ads, I am NOT ok with ads that suddenly arrive and take up half the screen, and wait a few seconds to show an X. That interrupts my UX . Same when a webpage loads up and it dances up and down as content is loaded in. If there are a few ads here and there no issue, I'm not oblivious to the costs of running that business.

mdav056

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#2228705 1-May-2019 12:48

I don't know if this has been covered (too much to read here, more than the Herald), but is it the case that people with subscriptions *have* to read "premium" content online? Or will all subscribers receive the premium content in their paper delivery? It doesn't look this way today, but who knows? I very much doubt that they could produce 2 paper papers, one for subscribers and one for people picking up a herald at the dairy.

gml

jonathan18

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#2228712 1-May-2019 13:17

No, there’ll only be one version of the paper - as there is a charge associated with that, whether it’s as a sub or one-off purchase. (Although, as mentioned earlier, those of us reading it via online library access aren’t having to pay anything. Equally, a single paper can be read by many people.)

That said, will there be online-only content that only subscribers can access?

surfisup1000

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#2228732 1-May-2019 13:47

tdgeek:

I am ok with ads, I am NOT ok with ads that suddenly arrive and take up half the screen, and wait a few seconds to show an X. That interrupts my UX . Same when a webpage loads up and it dances up and down as content is loaded in. If there are a few ads here and there no issue, I'm not oblivious to the costs of running that business.

And I am with you there! Ads are increasingly consuming a larger proportion of the screen.

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networkn

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#2228734 1-May-2019 13:53

To be fair, if you buy a Herald physically you get PLENTY of ads and some of them are intrusive and huge. Agreed they don't pop up over the top of your content while you read, but it's unrealistic to think you won't be getting adverts.

PolicyGuy

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#2228743 1-May-2019 14:21

psychrn:

I had a look around the NZHerald site this morning and most of the articles are Premium.Not a lot of free material available.

In the introduction interview with the Editor I think he states that "most" of the content is free. I beg to differ what I am seeing.

On the Whanganui Chronicle site today, of the material datelined 1st May there are thirteen "premium" articles and eight free access articles.
That makes it much less than "most" of the content being free to access. Unless you consider 38% to be "most" - maybe NZME's arithmetic is as poor as their journalism?

networkn

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#2228744 1-May-2019 14:22

I have to say, I am one of the few that doesn't mind ads if they aren't too intrusive. Exceptions are Grammarly which are obnoxius with thier frequency and stuff that goes over the top of my content.

rugrat

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#2228746 1-May-2019 14:29

quickymart: I couldn't see any "Premium" content on the Android app at all - unless I'm missing something?

I’m on the iOS one but if you click on the premium, bit towards the bottom it has:

"When you become a signed-up subscriber - and activate your account - you'll also start seeing the Premium content on the NZ Herald app. For now, non-subscribers can't see or access Premium content on the app."

I don’t care if they charge or not, won’t be paying as plenty other places to get News.

SaltyNZ

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#2228759 1-May-2019 14:52

Handsomedan:

If you pay, you shouldn't have advertising...

Buhahahahahahahahaha!!!!

-- Sincerely,

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These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

SpartanVXL

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#2228852 1-May-2019 16:29

Paywall is apparently client side. You can remove it with JS. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an addon already that will do this for you.

mattwnz

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#2228857 1-May-2019 16:46

rugrat:
quickymart: I couldn't see any "Premium" content on the Android app at all - unless I'm missing something?

I’m on the iOS one but if you click on the premium, bit towards the bottom it has:

"When you become a signed-up subscriber - and activate your account - you'll also start seeing the Premium content on the NZ Herald app. For now, non-subscribers can't see or access Premium content on the app."

I don’t care if they charge or not, won’t be paying as plenty other places to get News.

IMO less people may go premium if only using the app, because you don't have the same problem with the app, with not being able to read the premium stories, as you don't see the premium stories to begin with. So those people using only the app probably won't notice much difference, at least for the time being.

The problem is that once one news site goes paywall, others could follow. Although RNZ won't, and this move may only make them stronger, as I imagine the more people that switch to RNZ for news, the more funding they may get. The best thing about RNZ is that it is also ad free

mattwnz

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#2228859 1-May-2019 16:48

PolicyGuy:

psychrn:

I had a look around the NZHerald site this morning and most of the articles are Premium.Not a lot of free material available.

In the introduction interview with the Editor I think he states that "most" of the content is free. I beg to differ what I am seeing.

On the Whanganui Chronicle site today, of the material datelined 1st May there are thirteen "premium" articles and eight free access articles.
That makes it much less than "most" of the content being free to access. Unless you consider 38% to be "most" - maybe NZME's arithmetic is as poor as their journalism?

But are their 13 extra stories now, than there would have previously been? It appears there are more stories published, than just those that are on the homepage, but the premium ones seem to be promoted to the homepage. So if you don't use the homepage, it appears there are a lot more non premium stories.

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