Sujung Kim, Understanding the effects of tablet adoption and mobile news delivery on local news readership, subscriber satisfaction and retention

Abstract:

While news organizations must create original news stories, there are other ways that they can provide value for their subscribers. One way is to use hardware devices and software interfaces to create a better reading experience. By offering a superior reading experience, subscribers will read more often, which will increase the perceived value of their relationship with the news organization. Increases in perceived value will lead to higher subscriber retention rates and lifetime value. We study one particular experiment with the Arkansas Democratic Gazette (ADG), which gave subscribers iPad tablets with training and tech support, produced a digital replica of the physical paper, and stopped seven-day print distribution in most of its markets. The fact that some subscribers enrolled in the iPad program, while others elected to have a digital subscription but use their own devices created a natural experiment and gave us a “control group” for comparison. By analyzing clickstream data and subscription history records merged at the individual level, this study examines how iPad tablets, paired with training and tech support, can be used to increase readership, subscriber satisfaction, and retention.

Bio:

Su Jung Kim is an assistant professor in the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on the patterns and impact of digital media engagement by examining cross-platform media usage, news/information sharing, social and mobile media engagement, and the socio-political and financial implications of these engagement behaviors. Methodologically, she employs the tools of computational social science to trace, collect and analyze individuals’ digital footprints along with other quantitative research methods.