Facts about Online Newspapers
- When did The Times online set up its paywall/subscription service for The Times online? 2010
- How much is it? What type of subscriptions can the audience buy?
- Why was the paywall set up? Has it been successful? it was set up to offset advert revenue decline
- How many readers do they have online? (How does this compare to print sales?) 9m daily website viewers
- How much are the online subscriptions worth per annum? £69 mil
- Screen shot the home page. Annotate if you like.
- What is the masthead of the online paper? Is it the same or different to the print newspaper? Why? Its the same as its promotes brand image and will appeal to readers.
- How else is brand identity with the print edition achieved?
- Describe the layout of the home page. seperated into catergories so readers can find their interests
- How many stories/headlines are there on the home page? 59
- Are there any “complete” stories? no only titles and intro to story
- How are stories accessed? hotlinks
- At what point do the audience encounter the paywall? when they try to access the full story
- What sections does the online newspaper have?
- How do the sections in the online paper compare with the sections in the print version? E.g. are they the same?
- Screenshot another page and look at how it is designed to appeal to the target audience: layout, images, language used, mode of address etc.
- Does the online paper have things that the print version does not have? (e.g. links to multimedia content, extra sections)
- How is the online paper navigated?
- Is there a search facility? no
- How are the audience encouraged to interact with the online newspaper? – e.g. comments, getting in touch with the paper, e-mail, suggesting a story, posting pictures.
- Is there an online archive of newspaper stories from The Times?
- Look at where the Newspaper links to its Social Media – how can the audience follow the paper? (i.e. which social media?)
- How can the audience “share” stories? What is the benefit to newspaper of the audience sharing stories in their own social media accounts?
- What links are in the “footer” of the website?
- What other services are being offered to readers? How do they link to who the target audience is?