Press+ target Google One Pass customers

Just a month after Google unveiled Google Consumer Surveys, which helps publishers monetize their content via reader “microsurveys,” the company has scrapped Google One Pass, its one-time answer to Apple’s subscription plan. “One Pass, our payment platform for online news publishers, has been shut down. We are working with existing partners to make the transition from One Pass to other platforms, including Google Consumer Surveys,” Google wrote on its blog. TechCrunch’s Frederic Lardinois called One Pass the “most interesting and promising product” among a slew of other programs that Google shuttered as part of its “spring cleaning” effort. “With One Pass, Google once hoped to help publishers monetize their content. It never saw a lot of adoption in the publishing world, however,” Lardinois conceded. But Press+ is here to clean up the rubble. Immediately after Google’s announcement, Press+, which provides digital subscriber management software to publishers, said in a release that it would “grandfather at no charge the subscribers for any publishers that had used Google One Pass.”

But can Press+ make some headway where Google faltered? Perhaps if it can appeal to young males who are interested in news, according to a new study from the University of Texas. The study found that while younger males are more likely to pay for news online, they’re also not as likely to be interested in news in the first place. And also ironically, the study found that even though most people would rather read print products, online usage is continuing to grow. The study’s author, Iris Chyi, referred to the phenomenon as “ramen noodle theory.” As Nieman Lab’s Adrienne LaFrance explained, “People might prefer steak over ramen—but when it comes time to reach for their wallets, they opt for ramen more often. Because it’s free and abundant, the ‘ramen’ is perceived as inferior—which reinforces consumers’ preference for ‘steak.’”

• Press+ positioning itself to target Google One Pass customers (journalism.co.uk)

• Google Scraps One Pass Platform, Patent Search (MediaPost)

• Google Folds Paid Content Service One Pass (Folio Magazine)

• Google shutters One Pass, its paid content platform (paidContent)

• Spring Cleaning: Google Shuts Down Patent Search Homepage, One Pass, Google Related & More (TechCrunch)

• Are you a young dude interested in news? All else equal, this study says you’re a top paywall target (Nieman Journalism Lab)