“It could well be the beginning of the end for paid news on the web,” said Stone, as echoed here.

But Stone goes further down this road, asking why print newspapers don’t follow the same model, which has proved to be extremely successful for freesheets.

“If a newspaper is willing to depend on the advertising model alone on the Internet, then why not in print, too?”

According to Stone, paid-for circulation revenue usually amounts to about 15-20% of a newspaper’s total revenues. So the question is whether papers are better off with these paid-for circulation revenues or with an increased (free) circulation and consequently increased ad rates.

He evokes the Manchester Evening News in the UK, which started to distribute part of its print circulation for free last year and now distributes more free copies than paid-for copies.

“That means that circulation revenue has fallen 24.2% over the past year, but the newspaper is still able to gloat that its combined free and paid circulation makes it the country’s largest regional newspaper, its advertisers are happy and are paying accordingly,” says Stone.

Many other paid-for dailies have launched their own freesheet to complement their paid-for products.

At this point though, it’s unlikely that many newspaper publishers and editors, with a solid establishment in print, would embrace this solution.

But the global trend in newspapers’ distribution methods – that is, more and more freesheets - would seem to point in the direction of Stone’s argument.

Source: Follow the Media