원문정보
초록
영어
While news organizations must create original news stories, there are other ways that they can provide value for their subscribers. One way is to use hardware devices and software interfaces to create a better reading experience. By offering a superior reading experience, subscribers will read more often, which will increase the perceived value of their relationship with the news organization. Increases in perceived value will lead to higher subscriber retention rates and lifetime value. We study one particular experiment with the Arkansas Democratic Gazette (ADG), which gave subscribers iPad tablets with training and tech support, produced a digital replica of the physical paper, and stopped seven-day print distribution in most of its markets. The fact that some subscribers enrolled in the iPad program, while others elected to have a digital subscription but use their own devices created a natural experiment and gave us a “control group” for comparison. By analyzing clickstream data and subscription history records merged at the individual level, this study examines how iPad tablets, paired with training and tech support, can be used to increase readership, subscriber satisfaction, and retention.