Micropayment Startup Blendle Brings Pay-As-You-Go News to the U.S.

Dutch startup Blendle is making its debut in the United States, bringing pay-as-you-go news to readers in exchange for micropayments. The idea behind Blendle

Subscription News: Micropayment Startup Blendle Brings Pay-As-You-Go News to the U.S.

Source: Blendle

Dutch startup Blendle is making its debut in the United States, bringing pay-as-you-go news to readers in exchange for micropayments, reports Politico. Blendle originally launched in 2014 in the Netherlands and then in Germany, starting out with lucrative partnerships with the New York Times and Axel Springer.

The idea behind Blendle is to bring content from major newspaper, magazine and online publishers to the Blendle news app where readers choose what content they want to consume. Readers deposit money into an online wallet, and then pay for individual articles as they read them, whether they are from the Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist or the Financial Times. Readers who don’t like a particular piece of content can request a refund.

In an interview with Politico in January, Blendle co-founder Alexander Klöpping said he believes younger readers who have grown up with iTunes and Netflix will be willing to pay for individual articles rather than subscribing to individual media outlets.

Subscription News: Micropayment Startup Blendle Brings Pay-As-You-Go News to the U.S.

Source: Blendle Screenshot

“It’s become completely normally to pay for music, with Spotify. It becomes completely normal to pay for movies, with Netflix,” said Klöpping, “yet I don’t have a single friend who pays for journalism.”

The advantage of Blendle to publishers is two-fold. First, publishers get their content in front of new audiences, and second, they add another revenue stream to their bottom line. According to Politico, publishers get 70% of the revenue Blendle collects. For publishers like the Huffington Post who are already offering up free content, any revenue generated from this pay-as-you-go model is a bonus. Blendle, of course, benefits by receiving 30% of the revenue and by becoming a “go to” news app that brings together many publishers in one marketplace.

With more than a dozen U.S. publishers signing on – including Newsweek, Barrons, Mother Jones, Game Informer, Advertising Age and Time Inc. – Blendle will open up its U.S. beta test to 10,000 users. If the experiment goes well, Blendle will open it up to more users, Klöpping told Politico.

Insider Take:

The big question is “will it work?” Assuming the app and payment mechanism are flawless, we think the idea has real potential. Some U.S. publishers are already experimenting with micropayments as an option for ad blocking readers to access content. A pay-as-you-go model could be attractive to younger audiences who only want to pay for what they use or who aren’t ready to commit to a subscription.

The Winnipeg Free Press implemented a micropayment model last summer with great success, exceeding expectations and projections. The media outlet kept its subscriptions in place for readers who want unlimited access to content, a low-threshold paywall for those who only want to read the occasional article, and micropayment for the casual but regular reader who doesn’t read enough to justify the expense of a subscription. See our premium article on the Winnipeg Free Press for additional details.

Micropayments can work, but if Blendle builds a one-stop news app, will readers come? That remains to be seen. Apple is already aggregating content with its Apple News app, and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly popular as news feed options. Do readers need/want another news app? Blendle’s success lies not so much in the model, but in how it executes and markets its vision. We’ve signed up to be a part of the beta test, so we’ll let you know how it works and update you as the product evolves. Stay tuned!

~ Dana E. Neuts, Subscription Insider

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