This week, FOCUS online is launching an information campaign on the free nature of its offerings. This is because the news portal is continuing to expand the breadth and depth of the content of its products without raising a paywall.
With the claim "News without end", the BurdaForward brand shows why non-paid portals are so important in the German news landscape. The campaign is rolled out on the in-house BurdaForward brands such as FOCUS online, BUNTE.de, CHIP or TVSpielfilm, but also in the FOCUS magazine and on external channels such as TV spots (ProSiebenSat.1) and out-of-home advertising.
More than 80 percent are annoyed by paywalls
In a representative study, BurdaForward surveyed the willingness to pay for news content. 83 percent of users of news sites said they would only consider free offers. 81 percent were "annoyed" by articles that end in payment barriers. On the other hand, 76 percent of those surveyed think it's good "if a news portal has advertising and is free of charge in return."
"Certainly, other business models have their justification," says Festl. "At the same time, we are guided by the conviction that high-quality non-paid portals are system-relevant in the German news landscape. In times of artificially generated content and fake news, we are making a contribution to a broad and reliable basis for discourse in the country. We need as many well-informed people as possible and as few as possible who drift into dubious alternative media."
Even more deeply researched and free content
In addition to around 1,200 news items per day, FOCUS online offers dozens of in-depth articles every day without a pay barrier. With innovations such as the climate brand "FOCUS online Earth," launched in the spring, the BurdaForward portal continues to expand its in-depth reporting. Already today, the still young sub-brand reaches ten million views per month with its critical-constructive contributions.
The expert world of FOCUS online, in which 300 contributors now publish, and the partner network, to which around 120 brands belong, are also being further expanded. Many of them, such as "The Economist" and "The Pioneer," enrich FOCUS online with in-depth research and free content.