Cut Price and Make it Up in Eyeballs

Newspapers: Circulation revenue may have stabilized, but
ad revenue has fallen off a cliff (Pew Research Center graph)

With subscriptions and ad revenue dropping, newspapers across the country have been closing their print operations (and staying alive on the web), merging with rivals, or shuttering their doors completely.

The economics of print journalism have proven to be so daunting that newspaper ownership is becoming the province of extremely wealthy, extremely patient individuals....like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who bought the Washington Post in 2013. After two years of watching and waiting, he is now trying out some strategies that built Amazon.

Mr Bezos has been actively involved in a new app, code-named Rainbow, which presents Post articles in a glossy, magazine-like format....the Post is putting scale before profit: the Kindle version is free for the first six months and $1 for the next six (the cost is higher on other devices).

(techcrunch image)

I intend to give the WaPo Rainbow app a try when it becomes available on iOS devices. Though I disagree with most of the Post's editorial positions, the news division is largely just-the-facts-ma'am nonpartisan.

Having been burned several times by low "teaser" rates that were subsequently raised hundreds of dollars (I'm looking at you, leading financial newspaper), I trust Mr. Bezos will moderate price increases à la Amazon Prime. Here's hoping he succeeds in keeping one venerable platform alive.