Many Formats, One Price
Magazine and newspaper publishers are reorienting themselves around a business model that has taken hold in other media: the bundle.
The result is a new ecosystem of pricing that turns aspects of the old model upside down. For many years, publications charged for print and gave away their digital content free.
Increasingly, publishers are charging premium prices for digital content, betting on a new breed of media consumer willing to pay for content on devices such as Apple Inc.’s iPad, and throwing in print at little or no additional cost.
Last week, for example, the New Yorker introduced a subscription that includes the magazine online and on the iPad for about $60 a year. For just $1 more a month, subscribers can get the magazine in print, too.
