數位媒體付費訂閱制初探— 以《天下雜誌》和《聯合報》為例

Abstract

新聞媒體紙本收入下滑，加上跨國科技平台壟斷數位廣告市場，讓媒體必須尋求彌補營收缺口的收入來源，數位付費訂閱制成為媒體採行的新商業模式。

本論文以《天下雜誌》和《聯合報》為研究對象，以質化內容分析法比較兩間媒體付費和免費內容產品的差異，再透過深度訪談法，進一步理解媒體採用數位訂閱制的內容產品設計、數據應用和組織轉型，以釐清媒體如何在臺灣順利推動數位訂閱制。

本論文發現，《天下雜誌》採行軟付費牆類型中的計次付費牆，限制讀者免費閱讀的篇數，確保廣告和訂閱收入並存。《聯合報》則另設數位訂閱制專屬品牌《聯合報數位版》，並採取硬付費牆，讀者必須付費才能解鎖文章。其中，兩間媒體皆強調數位內容產品具「深度」的特性，且數據作為驅動產品的核心，可以協助內容產製、洞悉讀者、會員經營、檢視成效、以及廣告加值。

本論文指出，媒體發展數位訂閱制，須選擇適合的商業策略，包含付費牆的類型，並增設因應的數位職能和完善數位工程。媒體在設計數位訂閱制內容產品時，須理解目標讀者的需求，產製具差異性的內容。

Legacy news media have been struggling to make up for their revenue gaps since the decline in print revenue and the technology platforms have monopoly controls of the digital advertising market, forcing them to seek new business models like the digital subscription. Based on qualitative content analysis and in-depth interview, this thesis takes “Common Wealth Magazine” and “United Daily News” as the research subjects to analyze media's products designing, business decisions, data applications and organizational transformations to clarify how the digital subscription of media can thrive in Taiwan.

This thesis finds that Common Wealth Magazine adopts a kind of soft paywalls called the metered paywall which allows readers’ access to a set number of articles per month and ensures the co-existence of both advertising and subscriptive revenue. The United Daily News establishes an exclusive brand for digital subscription and adopts the hard paywall which requires a paid subscription to get access to articles. Both media emphasis that the content should be “in-depth”. Besides, the data plays an important role in digital subscription which helps the media to improve content production, customer relationship management, performance reviews, and value-added advertising.

This thesis also argues that it is necessary for news media to choose suitable business strategies, building strong technology teams and cultivating digital mindsets. When it comes to designing content products, the media must understand the needs of their target readers and produce distinguished contents.