Monday 22nd February: A pandemic paywall pays off for El Pais

February 22, 2021

Happy Monday! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Esther.

Spain’s biggest newspaper, El Pais, launched a paywall strategy at the start of May, having delayed it by two months at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and has already reached more than 90,000 digital subscribers.

Remarkably, this means in less than a year, the number of paying online readers is more than double its 45,000 print subscribers.

There are some fascinating insights into the internal discussions at El Pais around the paywall launch strategy. Some thought the pandemic was a great opportunity to get subscribers, while others wanted to establish a strong relationship first before asking readers to pay.

The title has also benefitted from investing in a new data and visualisation team just six months before the pandemic struck. Of El Pais' top 20 stories of 2020, 14 were produced by this team.

Anything involving Terri White is always worth a listen/read, and this is particularly excellent. Empire launched a subscriber-only podcast last year, and Terri has spoken to our own Peter Houston about the reaction to Spoiler Specials, what they've learned over the past 12 months, and how the podcast fits in with the wider Empire ecosystem.

This edition of Brian Morrissey's newsletter raises some great points about the value of consistency over optimisation when running a media company. "Consistency -- in design, writing, processes, etc -- conveys both a respect for your audience/community," he writes, "but also a humility most brands need in understanding that for most people the world does not revolve around their brands."

A fun one to finish. Taiwan has developed a strategy of 'nerd immunity' by tackling fake news with humour. Every time a hoax surfaces, digital minister Audrey Tang and her team respond within 20 minutes with a 'humour over rumour' approach involving short explanations and fun images.

This week's podcast:

This week Megan Lucero, director of the Bureau Local at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, provides us with a look at the present and future of local journalism. From the trials of finding resources to the project mentality behind some powerful stories, Lucero provides a hopeful and achievable look at how regional media is changing.

I've got the cutest reason for sleep deprivation, and can also drink coffee again. If you've enjoyed this week's episode or today's newsletter and are able to donate a virtual coffee, it is always really appreciated by us.