The Standard is one of the largest newspapers in Kenya with a 48% market share. It’s not going to be an overnight success.1902 121 years ago ( 1902) (as African Standard) In our environment, people still believe they can get it for free… So it’s a process. “Where your product is, this is a model that was adopted many years ago and appreciated. So we are slowly and gradually making the shift in that acceptance. “People are beginning to appreciate that good content comes at a cost. And so what people do in the market is – they’d read a piece of content out there, and they always come back to verify on our platforms – be it free or paid for, they’d still end up paying for it, just to verify that content… “What Nation has done, we’ve built a brand over 60 years. Be it human interest content, or educative, or health, or medical, it doesn’t matter – as long as it’s making a difference in their lives and it’s good quality and trusted, they will be willing to pay for it. “But I’d say people are willing to pay for content for as long as it’s making a difference in their lives. It’s been good so far, considering the environment we’ve been through – the COVID times, so to speak. Okeyo said the paywall had been “taken up positively. Since the launch of the paywall, investment in journalism has increased, Okeyo said, because “You have to deliver the brand promise to the customer”. “We’ve got Facebook, we’ve got Twitter, all those are our real competitors – competing for the audience out there in the digital space.” Pay to verify Okeyo said that Nation Media’s competitors were not, in his view, rival legacy news outlets. News, yes, but reliable, trusted, authentic news? No.” But was it easy to get reliable free news in Kenya? Okeyo mentioned that Kenyans prefer to get their news for free – something no doubt true of Brits too. So, instead of paying for a whole month or a whole year, he’ll only pay for what he can afford now.” “So he’ll pay for a subscription today, for example, and tomorrow, if he doesn’t make money, he doesn’t pay for the subscription. So they have to manage their budgets on a day by day basis. People live on wages who go to work, and at the end of the day they get paid. Like I said, the issue around spending power: there are people who live on even less than $1 a day. “A lot of people here still believe in cash payments. It’s much lower than the use of mobile money, because people are sceptical about their card details online. In Kenya, the use of credit and debit cards “is much lower. So it’s our way of life, the same way card has been your way of life over the years… Mobile money payments make it really easy to just make the micropayments. “I think the reason successful here is because of the mode of payment, the M-PESA. “In our environment, people seek alternatives for free before they pay for content… In your environment, issues around basic needs – health care, education – those are policies sorted by the government… We prefer to have micropayments in your environment, you prefer term subscriptions. In light of that, Press Gazette asked whether Okeyo thought there were any lessons NMG might be able to pass northward. Toss a coin to your paperĭaily or article-by-article paywalls have repeatedly been suggested in the UK and US as a way to fund news. Approximately 80% of subscribers buy the daily pass, which costs 10 Kenyan shillings (£0.07 or $0.09) – though Okeyo stressed that subscriptions are currently discounted by 50%. It aims to get over 1m before the end of the year.īehind that figure, he said, were 60,000 individual subscribers, with 21,000 per day on average paying to read content. Between November 2021 and January 2022, Okeyo said NMG grew its registered reader numbers from 130,000 to almost 500,000. Whether turning reach into revenue is as easy as Okeyo says, reach is certainly growing. Once we get that right – and I believe we’re getting there – then the money discussion becomes a fairly easy one.” “It might be that the experience is a lot more about the technology that we’re using, the ease of access, ease of use, and the content, the quality of the content. Right now we’re just trying to optimise the experience for the customer. “Our focus is to develop an experience that is world-class, that keeps the user engaged, and that will help us monetise. “We’ve made some revenues – probably about $200,000 In the last 12 months. The plan was not to make money immediately. Subscription platform company Evolok, Okeyo said, “have been very, very supportive in terms of helping us build a team, not only for the digital platform in Kenya, but integrating the other brands across the region.” ( Evolok is one of Press Gazette’s commercial partners, but has not paid for this article.)
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