Digital Pessimism We hope to disappoint
The global newspaper El País, flagship of Grupo Prisa, will soon change the business model of its online version to face the current crisis in the newspaper sector. Discarded by insufficient the subscription model, and exhausted the formula of advertising revenue, Grupo Prisa will bet on online gaming, as a formula to make profitable its content offer.
The El País website will continue to be structured based on the usual sections, but only the headline of each news item and a brief excerpt of a few lines will be shown. Those users who wish to read a complete news, must make an online bet on this news or on another current topic. In case of winning the bet, they will be able to read the content.
“ The current business models based on online gaming are focused, above all, on sports. We are journalists, so we want to go further and cover the whole field of today”, said J.L. Cebrián at an entrepreneurs breakfast this morning at the Casino de Torrelodones in Madrid.
The old office, with a row of tables dominated, will soon be a thing of the past. Source: Newspaper library El País.
Thus, for example, in order to read the chronicle of the resignation of the PSOE’s former secretary-general Pedro Sánchez last week, it would be necessary to make a bet that could be: “ What do you think the barons of the PSOE With Pedro Sánchez? “.
The user will be able to choose between several options like “ They will introduce him to the primaries “, “ They will make a boxing match between him and Susana Día z”, “ Hundred budú and will eat their livers ” or ” They will give it to Pablo Iglesias “.
“ With this innovative initiative, Grupo Prisa takes a giant leap forward to make possible a new journalism in the 21st century and opens the door for online newspapers to finally be profitable in the new economic paradigm and offer content Quality “, stated Cebrián.
Writers Auction
In another new section they are preparing, the different editors of El País will try to convince online users to bet on their news.
Through streaming techniques, editors will appear on webcams in real time and will be given a fixed period of time, so that they present their news to potential players / readers. At the moment no nudes will be accepted, although it is not discarded in the future.
New jobs
As J.L. Cebrián, this change will also entail the opportunity to create new jobs, helping to fight the crisis.
“ We will need croupiers, experts in roulette, blackjack … We know that these are job profiles that we are not used to, since the journalists in our journal are honest, truthful professionals, who hide nothing and whose goal is not Is to make money. “, said Cebrián.
“On the other hand, online gambling professionals must have other skills, such as hiding the information of each play, trying to make the house win forever … But it will be an exciting challenge”, he finally stated euphorically.
Dates for the new website
Although J.L. Cebrián has not revealed when the website of El País will be available with this new format, the editorial staff of Pessimism Digital has contacted the IT company responsible for the technical platform to try to have more information.
The director of the company, Juan Ángel Díaz de Vivar, told us that the deadline will be very fast: “ Currently, the El País website already has advertising banners, promotional videos, contextual advertising, sponsored related content, images Promotions to large size, content subscription popups, captive publicity modalities … And in between the news itself. The passage from that to Casino is little work .
