El Pais sells 24-hour tailoring service to Guardian and Stampa

Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on March 6, 2007 at 2:08 PM

Spanish media group Prisa, owner of El Pais, has completed the sale of its ‘24-hour’ process to two of the most prestigious European newspapers: British The Guardian and Italian La Stampa. El Pais’ technology enables online users to read customized version of their paper.

It seems top executives from both dailies paid a two-day visit to the facilities of ElPais.com to become acquainted with its features.

El Pais’ technology allows readers to generate a customized newspaper, collecting dispersed information throughout the day on selected topics, and then printing it at low cost.

Prisa has also reached deals with hotels to sell this service and offer customized newspapers for clients.

One of the best things about this service is that it has virtually no marginal cost as it requires no staff to operate it and is solely controlled by the user.

Users can select which sections they want, or select the whole edition. in addition, subscribers can even choose a special edition with no advertising. Users then download their own paper in PDF format.

At the moment, Spain is the only country to offer this type of service. Its impact and readership are still limited (less than 10,000 daily downloads for ElPais.com) but this does sound like one of the next big steps in tailored, reader-driven newspapers.

Source: El Confidencial Digital through Ifra Executive Service Newsletter