August 2007

20% of online newspapers offer e-version subscriptions

Digital replicas save casts, delivery time

More Texas newspapers are turning to paid electronic delivery of their publications to reach readers in a more-timely manner and to save on mailing costs.

Of the 309 paid newspapers in Texas with Web sites, 59 have an e-version (a digital replica of the print edition) available for subscribers.

That’s up considerably from only 15 newspapers that had e-versions in September 2005, when TPA last surveyed all the newspapers ’ Web sites statewide.

And with a large postal rate hike that kicked in July 15 more and more Texas publishers are likely to launch paid e-versions of their newspapers to help cut mailing costs and stay competitive.

“The online edition (and we sell it alone or in combination with the print edition) has been hugely successful in terms of subscriptions and advertising,” Mary Judson, co-publisher of the Port Aransas South Jetty, said of her paper’s e-version.

“It is also a huge selling tool for (co-publisher) Murray (Judson), who can talk to advertisers as they both look at the online edition. ”

The trend of using paid e-versions to reach subscribers is most prominent among weekly newspapers as they scale back free content on their Web sites. Of the 59 newspapers with current e-versions, 41 are weeklies and semiweeklies.

Roger Estlack was one of the state’s first publishers to implement an e-version for The Clarendon Enterprise and he has more than doubled his e-subscriber list to 100 now from the last survey in 2005. He said 13 percent of the Enterprise’s circulation is now digital.

Estlack said he expects his e-version, which the staff calls Enterprise-D, to continue growing now that the print subscription rates have increased to offset rising postal costs.

“This is the way to go. We can’t improve the post office, but we can do without them for our out-of-county delivery, ” Estlack said.

Most newspapers that offer e-versions use their pre-press PDF files and either e-mail them directly to their e-subscribers or post them online on their Web sites behind a password-protected link.

“If you’re paginated, you’re pretty much ready to send out an e-edition. Just experiment, get your file size down as low as you can, and make sure your subscribers understand that it is their responsibility to provide you with an e-mail address that can accept your file each week,” he said.

The only ongoing problem Estlack has encountered is ensuring the e-mail version gets to the recipient through spam filters and other e-mail glitches.

Overall though e-subscribers seem to really enjoy the product.

“They absolutely love it. Some have trouble reading and can blow it up as big as they want. Some like the fact that they can store the paper on their computer and not clutter their living room with a stack of papers. Everyone likes how fast they get the news, ” Estlack said.

TPA held roundtables and sessions at the last Midwinter Conference and Summer Convention on e-editions and Web revenue and advertising led by Estlack, Randy Mankin of the Eldorado Success, Rick Craig of the Hood County News and staff from the Wise County Messenger.