‘Nation’ paywall: Readers have their say

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As we walk this journey together, our commitment remains to deliver highly desirable and engaging content worth your time and money. 

Photo credit: Nation Media Group

Just last week, Nation Media Group (NMG) launched the premium section of its digital platform, Nation.Africa, marking another milestone in its digital transformation.

This came just months after the company launched Nation.Africa last year as a first step in changing its business model in line with global trends.

In his speech during the official launch in September, NMG chairman Dr Wilfred Kiboro emphasised the need to put audiences at the core of our journalism. And since the launch of NMG’s digital transformation journey, you, our esteemed readers, have walked with us, given us important feedback and helped us achieve the milestones we have made thus far.

Nation.Africacrossed the 200,000 mark in registered users in just under five months, a major boost for NMG’s digital transformation. 

Feedback

Since the launch of the paywall, we have been listening to your feedback. This is a sample of what some of our readers had to say about our new feature:

Charles Gacheru on Twitter argued that readers should be willing to support journalism. 

Star journalist, Oliver Mathenge, commended the bold move taken by NMG to alter the media landscape. 

NjugunaH  chimed in on the conversation around paying for content, expressing the willingness to pay for good content. 

Fredrick Odhiambo liked Nation.Africa’s user interface and commended the affordability of content. 

Some of our readers also had concerns regarding the launch of the paywall. Njeri wa Chege, for instance, questioned the motive behind paying for content which has been available freely for a long time. 

A quick response to Njeri would be in the form of a quote from NMG’s Editorial Director, Mr Mutuma Mathiu who, during the launch of the paywall, said “the way our business is funded is changing fundamentally.” That implies a paradigm shift from the traditional model of advertising as a principal source of income for journalism, to one of reader revenue. 

Some of you also gave us recommendations regarding our paywall approach. Edwin Kirugo on the comments section of our website emphasised the need to make payments for content a lot easier.

John Musembi Musila was of the opinion that putting up an M-Pesa Paybill option would make the payment process easier. This process has thus far been simplified. 

We also received important feedback on some technical issues our readers experienced on our website, issues that our development team has worked round the clock to sort out. For instance, Tom spoke of experiencing difficulties during payment, a glitch that has been fixed by our development team.

NMG greatly values your feedback. You are always welcome to reach out to our able support team through the contact details below for feedback. 

As we walk this journey together, our commitment remains to deliver highly desirable and engaging content worth your time and money. 

Email [email protected] or call on +254 719 038 033/34.