Hur prissätts digitala dagstidningar i Sverige - En fallstudie om tre tidningars resa från gratis till betalvägg
Printed newspapers are on the decline, while digital versions are in rapid growth. Consequently the industry must draw up new business models around the digital format - models that can produce revenue streams equivalent to those that the print format used to produce. However, after a decade of 'free' online news, consumers now hesitate to pay. In their struggle for survival, strategic pricing is a central issue for newspapers. This study aims at describing how Swedish newspapers price their digital content, by analyzing their pricing processes and five factors that may influence the choice of paywall and price levels. We do so through a case study of three different newspapers that have launched different consumer paid models.Our results show that the pricing of digital news content is treated as a strategically important issue by Swedish newspapers. The processes are holistic and take on the perspective of the customer, although decisions are generally based on experience and gut feeling rather than customer surveys. We identify two different pricing approaches: (1) a short-sighted penetration strategy and (2) a long-sighted lock-in strategy. We conclude that there is a risk stemming from strategic short-sightedness resulting in prices being set lower than perhaps needed.