Interesting story outlining how newspapers who charge for online content are doing. In a nutshell- not all that well. This story outlines the decrease in traffic they have suffered as a result. However, it is much less clear whether or not that decrease in traffic has resulted in less revenue. I suspect that the revenue that was being generated from online advertising was so small prior to charging for content that any subscription revenue easily offsets it.

But this story from paidcontent.org doesn't really get into revenue, in typical web-centric fashion it focuses primarily on traffic:

Full story here

"As more newspapers kick around the idea of charging for content, much of the attention has been focused on the pay models employed by the bigger players like the WSJ and the Financial Times. But quietly, some small- and medium-circulation papers are coming up with their own formulas to get readers to pony up for access to their websites. We checked in with some of these papers to find out how much they are charging and how they’re faring.

This is, by no means, a complete list. But one can draw some general conclusions by looking at the experiences of what is admittedly a very sample size. The newspapers tend to be located in smaller, often rural markets; online-only subscriptions are typically priced at a substantial discount to the print edition (in general, about 75 percent of what the print product costs); where numbers are available, the number of online subscribers is still a tiny percentage of their print counterparts (less than 5 percent); and many of these papers say they began charging not so much to make money online, but rather to protect sales of their print editions."

A recent MediaWeek article entitled "Buyers Want Newspaper to Reinvent Model" discusses new methods newspapers have been using to meet the needs of buyers, and echoes some of the same sentiments we've heard from our advertisers here at MediaBids. For example, many of our advertisers typically request value-adds like online exposure with their buys. In response to this, publications are now posting print offers on our site with online space included as an integrated online/offline buy. Many newspapers have focused on presenting these integrated buys more frequently to their advertisers. Additionally, as the article outlines, some newspapers have started publishing e-newsletters on single topics and other newspapers are utilizing mobile opportunities to try and improve the overall success of their publication.

Here at MediaBids, we're presenting another option for newspapers and magazines in the print ad sales arena, in the form of our Per-Inquiry Advertising Program.We are currently working with  a small number of national advertisers who are paying for their print ads based on response. Newspapers, magazines and more can simply request an ad for these advertisers and we'll send them creative within 2-3 business days. Publications get paid based on the response their ads generate. Some advertisers participating include Vonage, Dish Network and DirecTV. Details of the program and forms to request ads can be found here: http://marketing.mediabids.com/ppi/index.html