Manchester Confidential to introduce paid subscription model

The management team behind the Manchester Confidential portal is looking to fund its further development by charging users a monthly subscription fee for access to the site.

Mark Garner, the founder of ManCon, explained the thinking behind the bold move and his belief that publishing mediums, on and offline, could no longer survive by relying solely on advertising revenue.

Although the move to a paid-for model may come as a shock to Manchester Confidential's claimed 260,000 weekly readers (and 94,000 email subscribers) the strategy is apparently something Garner has had in the pipeline for the past five years.

"It was always the plan," he relayed to How-Do.

"The trick, the hard part, was in creating a trusted brand in the first place and, of course, getting the advertising sales right.

"We now believe we're at a stage where the size, loyalty and quality of our readership is such that a significant number will be prepared to pay for the service we provide."

Garner and his team have already conducted numerous focus groups about the proposal and are now at the stage of emailing those 94,000 email recipients to gauge, through an online survey, their reaction to the move and, importantly, how much they might be willing to pay per month.

"Either £4.50 or £7.50 are the figures I have in mind," Garner revealed, before adding that he was prepared to be dictated by the results of the survey on the all-important subs level.

If this figure initially seems high - especially when, as a pioneer of charging for a consumer site, uptake might be understandably slow - it should be remembered, Garner stressed, that the "Manchester Confidential heroes" (loyal readers who take advantage of the portal's various restaurant and retail deals) save on average the not inconsiderable sum of £45 a month.

"That puts it into perspective," he noted, "these are exclusive deals and readers value them."

Of course, not everyone that visits the site is a 'hero', but Garner seems unfazed by the loss of a large chunk of the site's back end bulk.

"I think this will prove the old 80/20 adage. It's the 20% that are useful to the advertisers, to the site and to the brand that are most important. A lot of the rest, for any site, regardless of who you are, is fluff."

Those that may be expecting a gradual evolution into the paid-for format will no doubt be surprised by the alacrity of the switchover - next month has been circled for its arrival.

However, despite the apparent resolve of the team that this IS happening, that advertising alone will NOT sustain publishers ("the business model just does not work," Garner stressed, "as an industry we can not survive purely on advertising revenue"), they are candid enough to admit that they are still "in the process of working this through."

"The subscription model is happening," Garner commented, "but as to how the site will operate, well, the jury's out on that at the moment."

He revealed that the portal has now been rebuilt ready for the change, allowing " a completely walled garden, or a partially walled garden" but that the walls were yet to be drawn out.

"We still want people to take it for a test drive, as it were, but beyond that we're discussing what will happen with regard to subscriber only access or limited access for guests."

It is a bold move and Garner seemed happy to appear as a trailblazer, despite the huge risks to a publisher that has often marketed itself on the sheer scale of its following.

What's more he intends to quickly introduce the model across other names in the Confidential stable - such as Liverpool Confidential - before following with more niche sites such as Kids Confidential and Property Confidential in the near future.

"I've been doing this for a long time," he concluded, "and I honestly think that this has got to the right point to introduce a paid model.

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my time, but I've learned from everyone of them."

The email that is being sent out to current subscribers hints at the editorial changes that lie ahead, noting: "What we’d like to do next is give you more well-known writers and commentators and a comprehensive listing of what’s on across the regions we cover.

"Knitted in with this there will be more and even better deals in restaurants and retail outlets and more Confidential events to keep building on the growing sense of community amongst us."

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