Johnston Press will not introduce paywalls or fees for iPhone apps, CEO Ashley Highfield reveals
Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield has said that the company’s digital proposition will aim to make revenue through its apps, rather than the use of any paywalls.
Talking to The Guardian, Highfield said that there was no plan for any paywalls to be introduced for the publisher’s newspaper sites, including scotsman.com, and added between 20% and 25% of advertising revenue for the company’s 255 titles would come through digital within three years.
The company’s 140 mobile apps would also remain free to download, although the iPad and tablet apps would come with a monthly charge.
"We need to make a digital transition, we need to do it and need to do it quickly," Highfield to The Guardian. "But this is not a panic situation. I don't believe in a glide path to oblivion, but I'm not saying we don't have to grasp the nettle. [Regional newspapers] are social, local and mobile but we just haven't claimed that territory. It is going to be hard but there is survival."