News Corp Shuts Down iPad Magazine 'The Daily'

By Jane McEntegart
published

News Corp says it will take what is has learned from The Daily and apply it to other News Corp properties.

Tablets definitely changed the way we consume content, and the one that really kickstarted the craze for these touchscreen slates was Apple's iPad. Many publications prepared tablet-specific (or iPad-specific) versions of their magazines or newspapers, hoping an attractive app would help in their quest to squeeze revenue out of digital content. However, News Corp had a different idea. About a year after the original iPad was launched, the company launched 'The Daily,' an iPad-only newspaper that would be delivered right to subscribers' devices for a subscription fee.

The Daily eventually made its way to Android, becoming available for the Galaxy Tab, but it seems the expansion to support Google's Android platform hasn't helped subscriptions. The publication only ever garnered 100,000 subscriptions and  News Corp this week revealed that it was shutting the newspaper down. The Verge cites News Corp's Rupert Murdoch as saying they couldn't find a big enough audience fast enough to convince them it was a sustainable business model.

Some of The Daily's staff will apparently be moved over to The New York Post, though it's not clear how many will be moving and how many will be let go. In an email obtained by Talking Points Memo and reprinted on the Verge, News Corp says the app will cease publishing on December 15 with a farewell issue.

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Jane McEntegart
6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • mrmaia
    I think 100000 subscribers is a pretty huge number, but who am I anyway.
    Reply
  • mouse24
    mrmaiaI think 100000 subscribers is a pretty huge number, but who am I anyway.
    I heard this yesterday apparently (from wherever Phillip Defranco got these numbers), they were losing 30 million a year.
    Reply
  • Parsian
    Rupert Murdoch, is another A** hole i cant stand after Jobs.
    Reply
  • dameon51
    I think these traditional media style companies are failing these days because they don't stick it out for the long term. If you look at a lot of the great technologies of the past decade they all started out with a small user base and kept making improvements over the years. They may only have 100K users now, but if they stuck with it for another 4-5 years they might have tens of millions.

    At any rate business is survival of the fittest. If the dinosaurs can't keep up they'll go extinct.
    Reply
  • Wisecracker
    Maybe Apple folks were smarter than we thought ...

    :)

    Reply
  • busuan
    The problem with iPad news apps is that they are either free and sloppy or sophisticated but expensive. The Daily was good but expensive. One might argue it's not so if compared with paper media. But often one forgets that iPad is not a traditional paper media. Thus iPad-based news apps should explore new revenue models as well.
    An iPad is able to accommodate many apps. Even at a meager $5 a piece, one can easily spend >$100 on apps if one find they are fun, essential or just pretty. And customers pay close attention to such cost, sooner or later. The strategy is to price your apps low and reach as many as you can. Ensure your customers that they don't have to pay much for good solid apps, so that you can keep your customers as long as they keep their iPads.
    The same thing goes for new apps; they will not be viewed as traditional media. Pricing them as such is self-detroying.
    Reply