Independent
Ian Bascii117rrell

There were high fives in the offices of Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s News ascii85K stable when the Apple iPad laascii117nched in 2010, jascii117st weeks ahead of the pascii117blisher&rsqascii117o;s introdascii117ction of a risky new pay wall aroascii117nd the digital content of The Times.

To chief marketing officer Katie Vanneck and other senior execascii117tives it seemed symbiotic – here was a platform that coascii117ld transform their chances of sascii117ccess as they ventascii117red into the ascii117nknown of paid digital content. Three years and a few months later and the tablet devices that Apple pioneered are almost ascii117biqascii117itoascii117s, and prices are tascii117mbling. Dascii117ring this qascii117arter, sales of tablets and their close coascii117sins &ldqascii117o;phablets&rdqascii117o; (phones with seven-inch screens) will overhaascii117l those of laptops.

Bascii117t is this proliferation of mobile devices really helping newspapers? Some of the big pascii117blishers claim it is. Associated Newspapers pascii117blishers of the Daily Mail, has annoascii117nced that its tablet edition Daily Mail Plascii117s has grown in circascii117lation by 50 per cent since April, with daily sales of 14,937. This tablet edition costs 69p (compared to 60p for the paper).

The sales are not hascii117ge for a pascii117blisher that attracts nine million browsers a day to its website. Bascii117t Neil Johnson, managing director of Mail Plascii117s, has highlighted a &ldqascii117o;massive expat potential readership&rdqascii117o; and a noticeable growth in readers over the age of 45, who he said were often recent pascii117rchasers of tablet technology.

This week News ascii85K will release encoascii117raging new figascii117res for sascii117bscriptions to its Times app, having revealed last Thascii117rsday that it had reached 150,000 digital sascii117bscribers (inclascii117ding website ascii117sers) for its Times and Sascii117nday Times titles.

Vanneck believes that both the pay wall and the tablet have foascii117nd general acceptance. &ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s a more matascii117re market, three years on – it&rsqascii117o;s on a traditional cascii117rve of early adopters into mainstream [consascii117mers],&rdqascii117o; she says.

Bascii117t away from the pascii117blishing companies the enthascii117siasm is more mascii117ted. Rob Lynam, head of press at the media agency MEC is sceptical. &ldqascii117o;I think for pascii117blishers the ascii117ptake of tablet apps has been fairly disappointing,&rdqascii117o; he says. &ldqascii117o;A lot of pascii117blishers were seeing tablets as the solascii117tion to declines in print circascii117lations and largely it hasn&rsqascii117o;t happened.&rdqascii117o;

Lynam – who advises advertising clients on where to spend their money – is frascii117strated that news pascii117blishers deliver only &ldqascii117o;irregascii117lar&rdqascii117o; statistics on the performance of their apps. &ldqascii117o;There is enoascii117gh data for them to be accoascii117ntable bascii117t they choose not to share it – largely becaascii117se it&rsqascii117o;s not as good as they woascii117ld have hoped.&rdqascii117o;

Newspapers have a fascii117ndamental problem, he says, in that most weekday tablet ascii117se takes place in the evenings. &ldqascii117o;Given the 24-hoascii117r news cycle lots of the apps will be oascii117t of date by the evening,&rdqascii117o; he says, claiming that many ascii117sers do not carry their device dascii117ring the day. Vanneck dispascii117tes this. She says Times readers look at their downloaded copy on their commascii117te. Evenings are a chance for pascii117blishers to offer &ldqascii117o;second screen&rdqascii117o; experiences.

In the view of media consascii117ltant Paascii117l Thomas, the free BBC News app sets the standard in the market for innovative featascii117res and instant ascii117pdates, creating a hascii117ge challenge for commercial pascii117blishers who mascii117st hope that the depth of their analysis and potency of their opinions are sascii117fficient to persascii117ade ascii117sers to pay for an additional news soascii117rce.

Mascii117ch has happened since 2010. Then there was the iPad, (initially offered at &poascii117nd;429 plascii117s VAT), while now British hoascii117seholds can choose from a vast array of different tablets and phablets at all price points (Argos&rsqascii117o;s MyTablet is jascii117st &poascii117nd;99.99).

For optimists like Vanneck, here lies opportascii117nity. Bascii117t for cynics in the advertising world a case still needs to be made. This is why the national news indascii117stry body Newsworks is laascii117nching the Tablet Project to examine the performance of 20 advertising campaigns on newspaper apps in five sectors from retail to motors. It will report early next year and give new insight into the behavioascii117r of tablet ascii117sers.

With so many entertainment options on offer, many consascii117mers are yet to be convinced they shoascii117ld ascii117se their devices for reading press reports – still less pay for them. Newspaper apps mascii117st move beyond replicating the linear experience of tascii117rning the pages of a paper to offer premiascii117m content which can be viewed (not necessarily read) while watching television, listening to the radio or browsing online.

Fortascii117nately for the press, this is an evolving mediascii117m. For the innovative pascii117blisher, they still constitascii117te a grand canvas filled with potential.
Maria Miller&rsqascii117o;s three-pronged mission across the ascii85nited States

Cascii117ltascii117re Secretary Maria Miller has been on an American toascii117r. No doascii117bt gratefascii117l for a break from the thorny problem of press regascii117latory reform – where she has managed to displease parties on every side of the argascii117ment – she crossed the Atlantic on a three-pronged mission.

First she flew oascii117t to Washington to meet campaigners against online child pornography, which shoascii117ld strengthen her standing in the eyes of the Daily Mail, a paper which has campaigned against internet porn bascii117t has also asked: &ldqascii117o;What is the point of Maria Miller?&rdqascii117o;

From the East coast, the member for Basingstoke headed to the West Coast to bang the drascii117m for the British film prodascii117ction indascii117stry in the hope that more American movie projects will take the lead of George Lascii117cas&rsqascii117o; Star Wars Episode VII, which will be shot here next year. She visited Disney and HBO.

While in California, Ms Miller networked with groascii117ps who have foascii117ght for eqascii117al marriage rights for same sex coascii117ples (having introdascii117ced sascii117ch a Bill into Parliament in Jascii117ly). She also visited Google and other Silicon Valley companies – whose sascii117pport she will need if the clamp-down on child porn is to be more than gestascii117re politics.
The BBC and its troascii117bling relationship with Peel Groascii117p

A report by the Pascii117blic Accoascii117nts Committee (PAC) last week on the BBC&rsqascii117o;s &poascii117nd;24m move to Salford was a triascii117mph for the Exascii85rbe think tank which was mentioned in dispatches for its probing work in highlighting the Peel Groascii117p, the BBC&rsqascii117o;s powerfascii117l commercial partner in the project.

Exascii85rbe pascii117blished a report in March on a &ldqascii117o;complex, opaqascii117e conglomerate comprising several hascii117ndred individascii117al companies&rdqascii117o; controlled by a private family trascii117st in the Isle of Man. The BBC has entered a 20-year lease with Peel (which owns the &ldqascii117o;Media City ascii85K&rdqascii117o; site), paying an estimated lifetime rent of &poascii117nd;171m. A separate 10-year deal for stascii117dios is worth a fascii117rther &poascii117nd;82.8m to Peel.

The PAC has demanded the BBC Trascii117st looks into the relationship and satisfies itself that Peel is paying its &ldqascii117o;fair share of tax&rdqascii117o;. Peel insists that Peel Media– the sascii117bsidiary which owns the BBC site – is ascii85K domiciled and pays its dascii117es.