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Cape Town - Times Media is hoping to woo South Africans to its digital platform and is sweetening the deal with international news subscriptions.
In addition to digital content from the Sunday Times and The Times print publications, subscribers will also have access to The New York Times, The Telegraph, and FTWeekend.
Times Media says that monthly subscriptions of R82.33 will remain the same.
"Apart from ensuring that readers get easier access to the Sunday Times and The Times content, through delivery to the mobile device of their choice or via the web, TimesPLUS allows our loyal readers to leverage the additional innovations that we have created to enrich their lives," said Jason Sequeira, GM for Circulation at Times Media.
The offer represents a change in media companies as they race to cater to an increasingly digital audience, while also trying to protect the revenue-generating print offerings.
Paywall charge
Print is on the decline, but few media companies have solved the problem of how to generate the same cash from digital content offerings.
In South Africa, the Daily Maverick has been leading the paywall charge in terms of its news content but has added a sweetener of an iPad to users who sign up for a two year deal.
The online publication does not charge for access to its content on the web, instead it allows for consumption of its weighty and detailed news and analysis, but it knows a trick. People use tablets to curl up and read on the couch.
"There are certain times, or mediums, when paying for content can be justified. For example, in a tablet environment where the publisher has incurred additional cost to enhance the reading experience from online," said Styli Charalambous, CEO of iMaverick.
The biggest problem for publishers looking to leverage digital titles is that advertisers are drawing down their spending on print, but not necessarily moving to the web.
In many cases, those advertising dollars are finding their way to TV, radio or massive marketing activations.
Tony Banahan reported on The Media Online that while ad spend only increased moderately by 6% in the last year, TV ad spending jumped a whopping 47%, mainly at the expense of print.
Rewards programme
And paywalls don't always work as intended: Without unique content, audiences may simply get the news elsewhere.
In the US, The Dallas Morning News suffered a paywall crash. The title was one of the paywall pioneers but has forced into a complete re-evaluation of the model as subscribers simply evaporated.
Times Media announced a rewards programme, dubbed TimesLive Club or TLC, as part of the offer. TLC will serve as a value offer for subscribers to the digital platform and goes live on 1 December.
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