Media Maze

Early days for this VJ online subscription model. The question is will it pan out

Around 250,000 unique users have visited during its first two months of operations GlobalPost.com, a Boston-based for-profit online news venture.

Since its debut on Jan. 12, GlobalPost.com got 1.1 million page views. With 65 correspondents worldwide, its economy is based on advertising and on access to paid sections ($199 a year), which include exclusive reports on business topics, conference calls and meetings with reporters, and breaking news e-mail messages from those journalists.

GlobalPost wants to create a feeling of community for subscribers, and for that, it allows them to suggest article ideas, avoiding seeing newsrooms as impenetrable and fortresslike.So far less than 30 people have signed up for subscriptions. The site is depending on marketing partnership to generate subscriptions, some discounted, and hopes to have more than 2,000 by year’s end.

In the meantime, advertising remains slow.
A third revenue stream based on selling their reports to other news outlets has been growingGlobalPost correspondents are paid a basic compensation of $1,000 a month for four articles, plus shares in the venture. The site had 500 applicants for the jobs. When in the field, correspondents carry inexpensive Flip digital video cameras. The site was started with $8.5 million from private investors.