{"id":16168,"date":"2016-11-17T18:00:42","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T23:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/how-will-the-wall-street-journal-respond-to-an-increasingly-digital-world\/"},"modified":"2016-11-17T18:00:42","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T23:00:42","slug":"how-will-the-wall-street-journal-respond-to-an-increasingly-digital-world","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/how-will-the-wall-street-journal-respond-to-an-increasingly-digital-world\/","title":{"rendered":"How Will the Wall Street Journal Respond to an Increasingly Digital World"},"content":{"rendered":"

Effect of Digitization on the Wall Street Journal<\/strong><\/p>\n

The media industry, specifically companies that had specialized in print news, have been and will continue to be significantly affected by the digital transformation.\u00a0 As many as 72% of media executives have stated that they expect either moderate or massive digital disruption in the industry [1].\u00a0 The low barriers to entry as media moves digital has increased competition from smaller news sources, furthering the pressures on traditional print sources [1].\u00a0 The Wall Street Journal is a leading example of a company being forced to adapt.\u00a0 While the Wall Street Journal, like most publications, has been a historically print heavy news source, recently there has been a strong focus on the digital content.<\/p>\n

\"Image[2]<\/p>\n

Business Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal\u2019s historical business model entailed delivering the news to subscribers in an efficient, easy to consume manner.\u00a0 While the business model hasn’t changed significantly, there have been a few minor shifts.\u00a0 The company has begun to focus on the consumer as a \u201cmember\u201d that actively participates and digests the information rather than a \u201csubscriber\u201d in which communication is a one way street [4].\u00a0 As people continue to move to a digital platform it becomes much easier to engage the consumer through comments\/opinions.\u00a0 As the consumers have started to prefer news in a quick, concise manner, the WSJ has attempted to follow that by pushing content through the online and more specifically mobile platform that users can take on the go.<\/p>\n

Operating Model<\/strong><\/p>\n

The WSJ has had to make numerous changes to their operating model in order to stay relevant in a digital environment.\u00a0 As would be expected they are ramping down their print product and pushing more of it into the digital, specifically mobile area.\u00a0 They recently reduced spending on the print version by combining a number of the sections (namely business & finance) and reducing the paper thickness to cut costs [5].\u00a0 They have also significantly reduced the number of journalists, especially in the greater NY area, to help reduce expenses.\u00a0 WSJ also completely redesigned their website in April of 2015, something they hadn\u2019t done since 2008 [3].\u00a0 Along with a website redesign, they also created an app specifically for the apple watch to help consumers take the WSJ on the go.<\/p>\n

As more emphasis gets put on the digital, the WSJ is pushing hard to unify it with the traditional model.\u00a0 According to Kristin Heitmann, general manager of WSJ Digital, \u201cPreviously, although we operated collaboratively, everybody had their own targets and their own businesses to run.\u00a0\u00a0 Nobody was looking holistically at the business and helping to prioritize what things needed to happen and when.\u00a0 So while everybody was working well together, I think there was a need for this new position to really tie everything together in a cohesive way\u201d [4].\u00a0 In a concrete effort to achieve this goal, the journal\u2019s product team is merging with the newsroom and will be in close quarters with the editorial staff [3].\u00a0 Closer quarters should help to reduce product development cycles and create a more collaborative environment [3].<\/p>\n

Additionally, the WSJ has stated that their goal is upping the subscriber base to 3 million people by the end of 2017 [4].\u00a0 One effort to kick start that user base growth has been to offer a 24 hour guest pass [4].\u00a0 By submitting an email address, a prospective user can have access to the full WSJ for 24 hours with the ability to post articles to social media sites [4].\u00a0 Doing so should enable more people to get a small taste of the content without becoming a full-fledged member.<\/p>\n

Additional Steps<\/strong><\/p>\n

It will be essential for the WSJ to focus on quick, concise content that is easily available to consumers in order to stay relevant as many other players join the market.\u00a0 The company is well on its way, but in order to continue down that track they may consider:<\/p>\n

Varied Pricing<\/em> –\u00a0 The upfront cost of news sources is a big inhibitor for many that prevents them subscribing.\u00a0 The WSJ may offer mobile specific packages that offer an extended free trial and then decreased price for the first 12 months to bring in more users.<\/p>\n

Website Updates<\/em> \u2013 Mentioned above, April 2015 was the first time they had redone their website since 2008.\u00a0 Updating their website and mobile platforms more frequently will be extremely important to stay relevant as a news source.<\/p>\n

Content Focus<\/em> \u2013 Finally it is extremely important to stay true to the high quality content that they have always provided.\u00a0 They need to be conscious not to alienate long time customers with drastic changes to the platform and content.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Words – 775<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] – Grossman, R. (2016, March 21). The Industries That Are Being Disrupted the Most by Digital. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from https:\/\/hbr.org\/2016\/03\/the-industries-that-are-being-disrupted-the-most-by-digital<\/p>\n

[2] – Ingram, M. (2012, June 1). The Chart That Explains Media’s Addiction to Print. Retrieved November 17, 2017, from https:\/\/gigaom.com\/2012\/06\/01\/the-chart-that-explains-medias-addiction-to-print\/<\/p>\n

[3] – Lichterman, J. (2015, April 21). After the launch of its long-awaited web redesign, The Wall Street Journal hopes to spur innovation. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http:\/\/www.niemanlab.org\/2015\/04\/after-the-launch-of-its-long-awaited-web-redesign-the-wall-street-journal-hopes-to-spur-innovation\/<\/p>\n

[4] – Mullin, B. (2016, August 19). How The Wall Street Journal plans to reach 3 million subscribers. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http:\/\/www.poynter.org\/2016\/how-the-wall-street-journal-plans-to-reach-3-million-subscribers\/426917\/<\/p>\n

[5] – Noto, A. (2016, November 2). Wall Street Journal Lays Off Staff, Maps Out Changes for Paper. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/newyork\/news\/2016\/11\/02\/report-wall-street-journal-lays-off-staff-maps-out.html<\/p>\n

[6] – Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from https:\/\/buy.wsj.com\/wsjpstlabor16nonus\/images\/packshot-digital-optimized.png<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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