On the face of it this sounds like a truly miraculous story amidst all the current doom and gloom of the newspaper industry: Danish local Randers Amtsavis is unable to deal with the rush of new subscribers, reports Journalisten.dk.
Almost 2000 new subscribers since mid-July is forcing the paper to meet subscription requests with the following message: "We're sorry, we can't give you the newspaper straight away, but we can put you on a waiting list". However, the comments reveal that these are not really new subscribers, but rather old subscribers who left the paper in droves when it changed from being a morning to evening paper five months ago, and are now returning after the paper swapped back to being a morning newspaper (the move was announced early July and made effective as of 17 August). A remarkable story nonthesame.
In the comment section one reader asks why ever the Randers Amstavis thought it a good idea to become an evening paper, to which the paper's chief-editor replies they are not too boneheaded (my hasty translation of 'stivnakkede') to admit they made a mistake.
Incredible, such an important move in a business model and it shows you can switch back to the old one like pressing a rewind button. I always thought print readers were so stubborn, that once they make a decision, it is very hard to change it.
Kristine, do you have any data about how many readers had cancelled the subscription of Randers Amtsavis few months before to compare it with the sudden interest? I wonder if the two numbers are close to even, or do some readers follow now others with their decision about the subscription (word of mouth effect).
Posted by: Marek Miller | August 18, 2009 at 06:32 PM