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January 27, 2010
Newsday Goes Into Tailspin
Posted by Dave Blount at January 27, 2010 11:53 AM
It looks like Long Island's liberal tabloid Newsday will be needing a bailout from Comrade Obama, if its online subscription plan is any indication:
In late October, Newsday … put its web site, newsday.com, behind a pay wall. The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take the plunge by putting up a pay wall, so in media circles it has been followed with interest. Could its fate be a sign of what others, including The New York Times, might expect?
So, three months later, how many people have signed up to pay $5 a week, or $260 a year, to get unfettered access to newsday.com?
The answer: 35 people.
The redesign and relaunch cost $4 million. From their 35 subscribers, the Newsday folks have grossed around $9,000.
Traffic has entered a freefall, and will inevitably drag down advertising revenue with it. Even before this debacle, the paper lost $7 million in the first three quarters of last year. At least Newsday's prospects aren't any worse than the liberal weekly Newsweek's.
The way finances are managed, it's almost as if the mainstream media has already been absorbed by the government.
On a tip from Incitatus.
