The Boston Globe says it will move to differentiate its two websites – one, free; the other, part-paid – as it undertakes a marketing effort around a new metered digital payment requirement on one.
“(Boston)Globe.com and Boston.com – they are two separate sites, very confusing – we are in the process of removing that confusion – and turning them in to two unique value propositions,” Globe EVP Andrew Perlmutter tells Beet.TV.
Having operated the free Boston.com since 1995, the publisher in 2011 added BostonGlobe.com, a second site with a hard payment requirement. But last month the publisher said that site’s requirement would become metered, allowing readers 10 free stories per month before they must pay.
“We need to figure out how to get people from two to five … to 10 clicks,” Perlmutter says. “Search (and) social are not going to get us all the way.” He says paid marketing initiatives may be required to bring free readers in to the premium conversion funnel. Editor Brian McGrory last month told staff the two new-look sites will “even compete with each other”.
Perlmutter was was interviewed by Beet.TV executive producer Andy Plesser at Beet.TV’s Content Marketing Summit, held at the New York offices of Mindshare last week. You can find more videos from that event here.