The economics of The Daily: 1, 1 million, 1 billion

The Daily, the Rupert Murdoch-funded first ipad-only newspaper/newsmagazine is doing well, according to publisher Greg Clayman.

Clayman spoke at the annual PaidContent conference at the New York Times yesterday.  This AFP article provides an excellent recap of Clayman’s talk.  Clayman said that “hundreds of thousands” of people have downloaded The Daily app since the publication launched a month ago. He wouldn’t disclose how many people have paid for the app (the free trial period for The Daily has been extended for a few more weeks), but joked that it’s “more than 1 and less than a billion.”

Earlier in the conference, Forrester analyst Sarah Epps said that The Daily would need close to 1 million subscribers to recoup the investment.

I had the opportunity to chat with Clayman briefly when he arrived at the event. We talked about some of the technical glitches that have occured (they’ve released three versions to correct early technical issues).  As I’ve blogged about before, the design and hands-on aspects of The Daily are impressive.  I also commend The Daily for creating a hybrid micropayment subscription model.

I enjoyed the opportunity to meet the man leading this new digital publishing effort.

 

Tags: digital publishing, Greg Clayman, micropayments, newspapers, paidContent, pc2011, Rupert Murdoch, The Daily