Improving newspaper subscription services

Abstract

In the last few years, revenue from advertising in the newspaper industry has been in decline. In some cases, we have seen falls in excess of 60 per cent. This means that the core business of selling papers has to move into the red. In many cases, advertising revenue has been subsidizing non-profitable subscription and home delivery services. There is real focus in the industry to make the core business profitable. I have been working with a number of publishers, and found that many of the challenges and potential solutions are common. This paper explores the approach taken and some of the solutions proposed to improve the business. © 2009 Palgrave Macmillan.