1. Digital Subscriptions Best Practices Tim Thomas SVP, Business Development 1

2. 2 Industry Challenge NAA says print ad revenue declined by almost 50% in past 4 years

3. 3 Industry Response Cut expenses

4. 4 Industry Response Cut expenses Change printing and delivery

5. 5 Industry Response Cut expenses Change printing and delivery Raise print prices

6. 6 Industry Response Cut expenses Change printing and delivery Raise print prices More digital ads and services

7. 7 Industry Response Cut expenses Change printing and delivery Raise print prices More digital ads and services Launch digital subscriptions

8. 8 What do you have to believe? We have unique, relevant content...... That some people are willing to pay for We have more page views than advertisers can buy Digital subscriptions and digital advertising can co-exist

9. 9 Baltimore’s Best

10. 10 The Product

11. 11 Use a metered approach 8% of users generate 80% of your traffic 80% of users view 1-5 page views per month “Drive-bys” aren’t interrupted Heavy users are the most likely to pay

12. 12 Don’t be afraid to go low Launched at 15 page views/30 days Lowered to 10 page views after 9 months Going to 5 page views this year Intercept rate: 1.5% of users see the “Stop” box

13. 13 Meter most of your content Exempt home page, section fronts, classifieds, obits Meter staff stories, photos, video pages, breaking news, wire stories, talk boards When in doubt, meter it Let the market decide which content is “premium”

14. 14 Place (Distribution)

15. 15 Stop the leakage Apps Mobile WAP RSS feeds Content alliances E-edition

16. 16 Desktop site Apps – iPhone, iPad, Droid phone HTML5 site Loyalty site E-Edition Package “All Digital Access”

17. 17 Pricing

18. 18 Use trial pricing Reduces consumer perception of “ commitment risk” Automatically rolls to regular rate Gets credit card number Gets email address Gets physical address for better “match” to print subs High retention rate

19. 19 Charge print subscribers for digital (but at a much lower rate) Establishes value right away Digital has more content than print Digital is real time Conversion rate is about the same as registration Keep the charge on the statement reasonable (<$20) Print SubsDigital Only 4-week trial99 cents Weekly rate99 cents$3.99 Charged to credit card10 weeks4 weeks

20. 20 “All” new print starts to include digital Introductory rate increased through most channels % increase allocated to digital circulation revenue Direct mail/FSI allows print-only start New weekly ratesWeekend4-day Print-only99 cents$1.99 w/Digital Access$1.99$2.99

21. 21 Decide rules and process for comp accounts Exempt meter within your IP range Remote access for news, sports, photo Ad reps Agencies Large advertisers Content partners Other papers in your corporation Execs Bloggers

22. 22 Set institutional pricing Libraries, law firms, chambers, government, colleges User ID/Password vs IP exclusion Set annual rate per person Higher per-person discounts for more people

23. 23 Promotion

24. 24 Announce ahead of time Publisher letter to readers Press release FAQs Employees

25. 25 Anticipate reader issues “If you make me pay, I’ll just go somewhere else for my news.” “Why do I have to pay for a digital subscription? I already pay for the paper.” Establish FAQs and post on your site Arm the newsroom and CSRs with FAQs+

26. 26 Tie promotion to these issues

27. 27 Tie promotion to unique content

28. 28 Promote in all channels  Email marketing  Print ads, wraps and front page notes  Contest on loyalty site  TV spots  Kiosk and door-to-door sales  Direct mail and print inserts  EZ-Pay postcards  Subscriber bill inserts

29. 29 Anchor homepage link to splash page  Up at launch  Makes it easy for people to buy

30. 30 Pay Attention [The 5 th P of Marketing]

31. 31 Watch your digital inventory to ensure ad commitments are met  Used to having unlimited inventory  Higher targeting should mean higher CPM  Tighten up the discounting  Kill “value added”  Watch charity and house ads

32. 32 Results

33. 33 Page Views Down, Users Up -18% +12%

34. 34 Ad revenue grew While adding a new revenue stream

35. 35 Almost 30K new subscribers

36. 36 So, come on in. The water is fine.