Spain: Prisa's mixed paid/free newspaper website and young reader project discussed

Posted by John Burke on November 17, 2005 at 4:10 PM

The large Spanish media group Prisa, parent company to the esteemed newspaper El Pais as well as radio and television stations, is preparing itself for the multimedia age. Blanca Perez Montequi, Director of Strategy for Prisacom, the group's Internet division established in 2000, sat down for an interview with the French Journal du Net to discuss its projects, including its youth publication EP3 and El Pais' decision to take down the paid wall on most of its website.

Prisacom focuses purely on the groups Internet and mobile functions and integrates all of Prisa's traditional media content onto the Web. Although the total activities of Prisacom still represent less than 5% of the entire group's functions, in the months of 2005 until September, it had revenues of euro 14,4 million and grew by 22.5%, 13% more than the parent company.

The El Pais website was Prisa's first Internet venture when it launched in 1996 and today claims more than 1 million monthly visits. It began as a free site, switched to a paid site and as of June 2005 has been a mixed site.

The mixed version has proved the most successful. After freeing up the site, advertising revenues soared and today it claims over 50,000 subscribers.

Mobile has become a very important part of Prisacom's business, consisting of 35% of its revenue. The company has deals with the three top mobile providers in Spain and the games and contests it diffuses through SMS have become popular. The group wants to "try to make all of its content accessible to everyone everywhere."

Prisacom thinks that with the spread of broadband, WebTV is going to play a significant role in the future of media and is preparing itself likewise.

One of the most important projects that Prisacom has undertook is the launching of a website for youth (launched June 2005) called EP3. 60% of Spanish Internet users are between the ages of 14 and 34 and they are straying from traditional media. EP3 produces content about subjects that concern this age group and distributes it on paper, online (including an Internet radio station) and over mobile services. So far, Montequi said Prisacom is happy with the product as well as the youth site's first returns.

Other recent developments include adding RSS feeds to El Pais' website and podcasts to Prisa's radio station Caden Ser. But that's not all they have up their sleeve. Montequi said, "We're always looking to innovate, to propose new products that correspond to the evolution of consumer tastes and habits."

Source: Le Journal du Net (in French)