Globe and Mail Incentivizing Newsroom Staff to Boost Quality

Moving from traditional print to digital is not a simple process but many companies are now doing so in order to maximize their revenues.

Indeed, consumers are now receiving their news from the internet rather than paying for it at the newsstand and this is resulting in a drop in profits for several businesses.

However, making the switch to digital means the loss in revenue can be recouped and there is even more scope to make the content more engaging by including slideshows of images and embedding video content.

What some companies have done as part of their online strategy is to put up a paywall service, which can either stop people from accessing any articles or provide a metered access approach, where consumers can read a fixed amount per month. The Telegraph in the UK has implemented this successfully, offering people a taste of what they get when they sign up for the service.

However, quality is paramount, especially when the market is so competitive, so it is perhaps not a surprise to see Canada’s Globe and Mail incentivizing its newsroom staff to create compelling and engaging content that results in people subscribing to the paywalled site.

Phillip Crawley, publisher and chief executive of the newspaper, was attending the World Publishing Expo 2013, where he said the package is offered to a specific team of personnel, a handful or about 300, journalism.co.uk reports.

He said the scheme is necessary in order to drive forward the business in an ever-changing environment.

The Globe and Mail launched its paywall nearly a year ago and allows readers access to ten articles a month before being required to pay. Now, there are around 100,000 subscribers, with a third being digital-only and the rest also receiving a print edition.

Mr Crawley said digital data adds a lot of value to the newspaper and the business now has a large customer database to draw upon. By having a good customer relationship management platform, companies can incentivize customers with things they may like, further improving their prospects.

“We now have a much better profile of some of our most loyal readers – exactly the kind advertisers want to know more about,” Mr Crawley added.