Antony Mayfield reports that News Corp.’s The Times will spawn an American edition, which will cost Mr Murdoch and co. $2 to produce, and will sell for $1. The idea: to encourage readers to then log on to the web site.
   Plenty of British journos have risen to top jobs in the States, American readers have never minded my parochial insistence on Oxford spellings, and the Financial Times has a decent following there, so I imagine The Times will work quite well as a brand in the US.
   It has a heritage and a reputation for excellence that is known globally—the sort of reputation the BBC had, in the old days of World Service Radio.
   And the nation brand of Great Britain has no serious disadvantages Stateside; indeed, it is an asset.
   News is hiring extra folks, so there will be local content, one assumes, but I imagine the newspaper will appeal to those seeking foreign coverage. Whether it will actually challenge the dominance of American newspapers is anyone’s guess, but Rupert Murdoch did not make his name by being conventional. Distribution is assured, thanks to News’ New York Post experience. What is interesting is that Americans still love their broadsheets to signify the “qualities”—and that’s a format essentially abandoned in the UK.
   One thing’s for sure: the brand will work, and it will open doors. The theory stands elsewhere, so why not repeat this in other ’net-savvy nations? Posted by Jack Yan, 08:12  permalink

comments

Post a Comment  Links to this post