Growing Circulation with an Electronic Edition

1. Growing Circulation with an Electronic Edition Cory Arcarese VP Circulation Colorado Springs Gazette

2. ABC regulations • ABC has approved our electronic edition subscribers as “hybrid” subscribers. • Converted partial-week subscribers to 7 days by adding the electronic delivery to their print package. • Users must opt in; the sale cannot be assumed. • All reported together – SDR filed • Replica vs. non-replica • Current 7-Day subscribers with the e-edition can’t be counted twice

3. Pricing • Partial-week subscribers who were at full price – upgraded at no additional cost making them 50% off subscriptions • No expense for newsprint or carrier delivery. • We have begun offering 7-day, hybrid delivery subscriptions to new subscribers. • Exclude subscribers on deep discounts

4. The bottom line • By converting many of our Sunday-only and partial-week subscribers to 7 days, we have added about 9,000 copies to our home delivery circulation base.

5. E-paper includes archives • An added value and big selling point in converting subscribers was that the electronic edition includes FREE access to archives back to 1988.

6. Single Copy Sales • Wanting to capitalize on our 20 to 30 daily archives searches, we created a single-copy sales interface for our archives. A non-subscriber wanting to search for a story now buys a one-day, one-week or one-month “pass” to use our archives. These can be counted as circulation, like a rack sale.

7. Online archives “pass”

8. Authenticating users • Avoid having to set up thousands of custom accounts. • We use their phone number as a unique identifier • Last name as password. • We query our circulation database to confirm they are active subscribers at a qualifying rate. • If their paid subscription lapses, they cannot log in.

9. Tapping into NIE • ABC Qualified • Teachers must opt in • Must order a specific number of copies of the e-paper. • We then issue usernames based on the teacher’s name and number ordered (Smith1 thru 25). • E-Edition accounts for 21% of our daily NIE number and 73% of Sunday

10. Mail Subscribers • Many papers offer mailed subscriptions that are expensive to fulfill and expensive to the customer. We converted ALL of our mail subscriptions to online – a huge savings with very little pushback.

11. Employee Copies • We also converted employees’ free print copies to electronic. ABC allows us to count these 400+ employee copies. • Include in intranet newsletters • Include in new employee orientation

12. What You Get • Increased Volume • ABC Statement Positive • Speed to Market • No Delivery Expense • No Newsprint Expense • Attract new readers • Possible Revenue Increase • Poor Weather Alternative

13. What You’re In For • Discount Increase – Value Statement • Marketing Plan – Acquisition • Smart Retention Plan Needed • Dependency (1.5% to 13%) • Advertising Monetization • Competition with Free Site – Publisher, News & Online buy-in • Vendor relationship • Training of Call Center & other staff

14. Acquisition • Eliminate SO FOD • Eliminate other FOD • Use profile demos to target same demos in non-subscriber base • Create 6 Day FOD to take advantage of pricing • Sell e-edition with 7-day subs (multiple sub ABC rule invoked) • Sell e-edition to current 7-day subscribers (ABC 25% rule invoked) • Sell e-business subscriptions

15. Retention • Branding Campaign for E-Edition – ONE environment • Same day starts • Offer e-vac’s • Piled Up Papers to E-Edition • Utilize email vendor for retention and acquisition efforts

16. Other • Continue to expand NIE Online Program • Expand NIE to other counties • Add weekly SC coupons • Electronic Back Issues • Third Party Event Sales (1 week subs) • Possible JDA with other newspapers – pending ABC approval

17. Thank You • Feedback • Communication on your programs • Share New Ideas: Cory Arcarese, VP Circ cory.arcarese@gazette.com