The Herald Sun has announced changes to the Herald Sun website, including a significant redesign and a Freemium (paywall) model. The changes will go live next week, with a focus on premium sport and crime content to lure users behind the wall.

Redesign

The new site design is image heavy, with three columns including a central (rotating) hero image, and thumbnails for each story.
For major events (political spills, natural disasters) a new home page layout from over 10 options can be selected.

Freemium

Current news and some other content will be available free, whilst expert opinion and premium content will form part of the paid offering. Icons against premium content indicate that users need to pay to view it.

The editorial team works closely with the digital team and decisions will be made on each article as to whether it will be available for free or behind the wall.
A decision has not yet been made as to whether the Herald Sun’s high profile columnists pieces will be available for free.

Trial period

Existing subscribers are offered a 12 month digital pass to try the premium offering, and other users are offered a 2 month trial.

Bundles

Access to premium content is offered via bundles ranging from $2.95 per day upwards.

Video

Herald Sun currently has more demand from advertisers for video advertisements than it can accommodate. Video will be a priority going forward and journalists who are willing are being trained in video and voiceover. Video will not autoplay.

Sports fans

A major focus for premium content is sport commentry and stats. The popular fantasy football game, Super Coach will have a sophisticated environment behind the wall with live scores and interactive chat. Taking advantage of a highly engaged large audience, the premium Super Coach experience will initially be available for free trial, and, Herald Sun claims, will be difficult to give up for the gamers once fees kick in.

As for sport in the real world, Herald Sun says their AFL offering behind the wall is intended to be a second screen experience which will set best practice worldwide.

Crime pays

In an effort to appeal to the Herald Sun’s female readership (their demographic is an even split amongst men and women), ex-Victorian Police Detective Senior Sargent Charlie Bezzina joins as a true crime reporter. Bezzina spent 38 years as a Police officer, and 17 years in homicide.

Bezzina wrote a book The Job — Fighting Crime From the Inside last year. His remit is to tell the story of crimes using his unique insight. He will also publish opinion pieces on Police and justice in Australia. Bezzina is an extremely engaging personality with a unique insight. He is passionate about unsolved crime and communicating the reality of how the Police force works to the community.

His in-depth pieces will be premium content, providing a hook for potential subscribers interested in local crime. It’s the kind of content unlikely to be found elsewhere.

Devices

Up to five devices can be used to access one subscription at any one time. Herald Sun has observed that different devices (and print newspapers) are used at different times of the day (i.e. newspapers have higher usage in the morning and iPads higher in the evening) and believe that their upgraded mobile site and soon to be upgraded app will provide for more touch points with readers throughout the day.

Google

Articles are fully indexed for Google and users can read up to five articles per day referred through Google.

Facebook

Articles can be shared by subscribers on Facebook. Users who are not subscribers and are referred from Facebook to premium articles will be able to read one premium article per day.

Future

The data collected through the subscription process will be a significant asset. Herald Sun did not reveal any specific plans other than seeing an opportunity to connect their advertisers with their subscribers.