Montreal Newspaper La Presse Bets on Tablet Advertising with Free App Strategy

By: Patrick Pierra | Tab Times

To attract young readers, the second largest French-language newspaper in North America invested $40 million to transform itself into a tablet-first news media.

While most newspapers are still thinking about what role tablets and apps should play in their future, La Presse has placed its bets and recently launched iPad app, La Presse+, as its flagship product. In radical opposition to the general paywall trend started by The New York Times, the daily is not looking for its app readers to pay - ever. Guy Crevier, La Presse president and publisher, has pledged that La Presse+ will remain free “forever”.