“Spotify for News”? User Perception of Subscription-Based Content Platforms for News Media
- Subscription-based news platforms (such as “Apple News+” or “Readly”) that bundle content from different publishers into one comprehensive package and offer it to media users at a fixed monthly rate are a new way of accessing and consuming digital journalism. These services have received little attention in journalism studies, although they differ greatly from traditional media products andSubscription-based news platforms (such as “Apple News+” or “Readly”) that bundle content from different publishers into one comprehensive package and offer it to media users at a fixed monthly rate are a new way of accessing and consuming digital journalism. These services have received little attention in journalism studies, although they differ greatly from traditional media products and distribution channels. This article empirically investigates the perception of journalism platforms based on eight qualitative focus group discussions with 55 German news consumers.
Results show that the central characteristics these platforms should fulfill in order to attract users are strikingly similar to the characteristics of media platforms from the music and video industries, in particular regarding price points, contract features, and modes of usage. Against this background, the potential and perspectives of a subscription-based news platform for journalism’s societal role are discussed.…
| Document Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Author: | Jun.-Prof. Dr. Christopher BuschowORCiDGND, Prof. Dr. Christian-Mathias WellbrockORCiDGND |
| DOI (Cite-Link): | https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia4010001Cite-Link |
| URN (Cite-Link): | https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20230124-48740Cite-Link |
| URL: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/4/1/1 |
| Parent Title (English): | Journalism and Media |
| Publisher: | MDPI |
| Place of publication: | Basel |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2023/01/04 |
| Date of first Publication: | 2022/12/22 |
| Release Date: | 2023/01/24 |
| Publishing Institution: | Bauhaus-Universität Weimar |
| Institutes and partner institutions: | Fakultät Medien / Juniorprofessur Organisation und vernetzte Medien |
| Volume: | 2022 |
| Issue: | 2023, 4 |
| Pagenumber: | 15 |
| First Page: | 1 |
| Last Page: | 15 |
| Tag: | audience studies; content platforms; journalism products |
| GND Keyword: | Journalistik; Journalismus; Nachrichtensendung; Online-Medien |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 000 Informatik, Informationswissenschaft, allgemeine Werke / 070 Publizistische Medien, Journalismus, Verlagswesen |
| BKL-Classification: | 05 Kommunikationswissenschaft / 05.40 Nachrichtenwesen |
| Licence (German): |  Creative Commons 4.0 - Namensnennung (CC BY 4.0) |