Huffpo launches at crisis time for UK newspapers
Jinfo Blog

By Penny Crossland

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The launch of the UK edition of the Huffington Post today could not have come at a more opportune moment for its owners. The newspaper world over here is reeling from the tabloid News of the World’s phone hacking scandal, with a special debate tabled in Parliament for later today on the subject.

As the front page of Huffpo UK shows, this has provided the site with plenty of fodder for its launch. Also, as paidContent points out, the UK public, thoroughly disillusioned with the print press and newspaper journalism, is more likely at this time to flock to an independent, crowdsourced news site. Apparently, the US Huffpo site already has 1.2 million unique UK users.

A brief look at its blog contributors reveals a list of the great and the good in the UK, ranging from well-known journalists to politicians, their wives and religious leaders. An auspicious start, then, to what Huffpo’s owners AOL hope will become a growing franchise.

According to paidContent, Huffpo UK has yet to sign up any advertisers for its premium ad units. However, since some of the major advertisers are currently considering their accounts with the News of the World, there may be an opportunity for Huffpo to sign them up to its site.

Paywall watchers have read the latest Times and Sunday Times subscriber figures with interest. This week, News International, also owners of the above mentioned News of the World, announced it had reached in excess of 100,000 digital subscribers – a figure even detractors are impressed with.

The much maligned paywall seems to have been a success after all, with the Times claiming it makes more money from subscribers than it did from online ads before the wall. Given that acquiring subscribers with such a radical paywall as the Times’s and with general interest content is an uphill struggle, some commentators have wondered if a relaxation of the wall, with some free content, may be a good idea.

Whatever the offering and subscription package, there seems no doubt that print journalism is on its way out.  The Guardian newspaper group has revealed its “digital first strategy”, meaning that digital platforms will be first in its “philosophy and practice”.

Initially, this will result in the end of its international print editions and a re-jig of its approach to news in the UK edition: less breaking news, more analysis, fewer pages and job cuts. In fact, CEO Andrew Miller was quoted as saying that “all newspapers will ultimately exit print”.  Digital is after all where the money is – and that is the bottom line.

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