In a previous blog post, wherein I had analyzed NYT’s venture investing approach, I had promised to contrast this with the approach adopted by similar prolific peers – primarily Hearst, Conde Nast / Advance and Gannett. In this post, I plan to do just that. Here you will find details on all the current ventures they have invested in, as well as a brief look at the …
Preprints : A Revolutionary Revenue Model for Indian Newspapers?
ln a previous blog post, I had written on the importance of the Sunday edition and how it now accounted for a disproportionate 40-50% of the weekly revenues of the average newspaper (For McClatchy, the figure is 36%). This had, I postulated, been built largely on the back of the triple-whammy[1] impact of the FSIs (Free Standing Inserts) or Preprints – essentially inserts / supplements full of …
The Battle of the Paywall Models, or Why the Metered Model won!
It is time to announce a winner, ladies and gentlemen! As we head into the last quarter of 2012, we now seem to have a runaway winner in the battle of the paywall models – the metered model.
A recent Newspapers Association of America study of 156 newspapers revealed that 87% of the newspapers profiled had adopted the metered model. And since the study broke, there have been further announcements. …
Insights from INMA : Learnings from 2 days at a newspaper industry conference
The Indian Newspaper market, with its near 8% CAGR[1]over the past 6 years, has been well-insulated from the doom and gloom that has pervaded the Western newspaper industry. Thanks to the increasing number of neo-literates and a rapidly growing middle-class, there is considerable demand for the print product (110mn+ copies a day, a 21% global share and the largest in the world) even as the western …
Spotlight : A venture fund with a large newspaper business!
Let me ask you a trivia question!
Question: This firm recently netted $100m on an investment made 7 years ago in a help-wanted classifieds startup. Assuming it invested approximately $2m then[1], that is a 75% annualized return, one that any early stage venture fund would be proud of.
It presently has investments in WordPress’s parent Automattic, digital bookmarks co Bitly and NYC-based social media incubator Betaworks (which …
When does it make sense NOT to have a paywall? And generalizing a Paywall Principle.
Today, most newspapers in USA have either instituted a paywall (typically some variant of the metered model) or are considering one actively. Hey, even Buffett the legendary investor recommends paywalls stating “…you shouldn’t be giving away a product you’re trying to sell. That’s key to the future of the newspaper”.
However, one of Buffett’s investee companies, The Washington Post Co has thus far been content to stay away from any …
Survival Plan for Newspapers : Become a magazine!
A recent update on the State of the Media website commenting on the Newspaper Industry’s performance in 2011, spoke about the disproportionate importance of the Sunday edition, and how it could lead Publishers into de-emphasizing the weekday edition.
Thank God it’s Sunday!
According to the State of the Media report, about 35-50% of newspaper advertising revenue now comes from the Sunday edition. If we add to it the Sunday edition’s …
Why is Warren Buffett buying newspapers?
Originally written on 24 May ’12, updated subsequently.
Last week’s announcement that Warren Buffett’s World Media Enterprises Inc., is acquiring 63 daily + weekly papers across Southern USA from Media General for $142m has created significant buzz across news blogs and commentary sites.
This is Buffett’s 2nd deal in the newspaper space of late – previously in Dec’11 he announced the acquisition of Omaha World-Herald, and other dailies …
Why did Jagran Prakashan buy Nai Dunia, and at such a price?
On 2 April, Jagran Prakashan (JPL), the publishers of Dainik Jagran announced the acquisition of Nai Dunia.
The deal was concluded at an effective price of 150crs (thanks to a tax shield due to accumulated losses of 250crs in the books of Nai Dunia) for a brand that had revenues of 100crs and EBITDA of -25crs (FY11).
ICICI Securities in its report on 3 Apr 12 calls …