The Toronto Star recently announced that it will launch Star Touch, its new tablet edition, in September. As we reported last fall, The Star, Canada’s largest newspaper, decided to abandon its paywall in favor of a free, interactive tablet edition designed to more deeply engage readers. Instead of a paywall, The Star is banking on advertising and sponsorship revenue. The paywall came down in April, but Star Touch is still in the works and it comes with a $14 million price tag.The Star hired LaPresse to create the tablet edition on its behalf. La Presse launched its own interactive tablet edition in April 2013 with great success. The Star is hoping to duplicate that success by getting deeper engagement with its readers which advertisers and sponsors will be willing to pay for.”We seek to really dramatically change storytelling. The stories are going to be showcased in a more interactive way than ever before and provide a deep level of engagement and immersion,” said David Holland, president and chief executive of Torstar Corp., publisher of The Star at a May meeting with shareholders. “Our vision is to do a very compelling edition of The Star that reaches a broader audience and engages them in new ways.”According to Holland, Star Touch stories will be fully interactive, so readers can explore photo galleries, maps, videos, audio clips, and other elements with their fingertips. Ads will also be interactive in the free app, which The Star thinks will appeal to advertisers hoping to reach a younger audience.What’s interesting about this experiment, as industry expert Ken Doctor points out, is that The Star remains committed to its print product, while pouring millions of dollars into a digital-only version and wooing advertisers and sponsors to support the tablet edition.”The newspaper is still tremendously strong. It continues to have enormous impact. The audience has been with us a long time and is deeply committed to us,” said John Cruickshank, publisher of The Star in a video presentation at the shareholders’ meeting. “What we need to do now is get to the next generation is a different way.”Insider Take:In an article on Nieman Lab last week, Doctor shares his detailed analysis of The Star’s new strategy, something other publishers and subscription companies can learn from.

1. Maximize your audience reach on each platform.
2. Get your advertisers and sponsors on board early.
3. This is a pricey, strategic venture.
4. The ultimate product must be free to users to retain and grow readership, and, therefore, attracting advertisers.
5. Retrain the newsroom to think digital first without sacrificing the legacy print product.
6. The tablet edition will not be for breaking news. That will be relegated to the free smartphone app and desktop web.
7. Star Touch will not be a duplicate of the print version. It will be unique.
8. Maintain a focus on smartphone traffic, recognizing its utility as a lead generator.
9. Focus on the money, maintaining print revenue while growing digital revenue.
10. Money is important, but engagement is critical to success, not just to the TorStar but to its audience.

The Star is investing in a way that few companies have the ability to do and/or willingness to take such a big risk with their dollars and readers. While La Presse has been successful with their version of this model, The Star is likely to learn a lot of difficult lessons throughout implementation and roll-out.We recommend that subscription companies like this who leverage advertising and sponsorships in their revenue mix consider a “fast follow” strategy with the elements of The Star and even La Presse’s mobile products that are successful (e.g., editorial approach, design approach, etc.) and test thoroughly before making such a costly leap.