Piano Media Explained
Piano Media |
Industry: | Internet |
Url: | https://piano.io/ |
Company Type: | Private |
Piano Media was a SaaS company specializing in advanced media business processes and online commerce optimization software. Piano Media merged with competitor Tinypass on Aug. 11, 2015.[1] With the merger and after acquiring US-based Press+ in Sept. 2014 from RR Donnelley & Sons, Piano became the largest provider of metered paywalls worldwide with more than 1200 news and media providers globally using their platforms.[2] Founded in 2010 by Etarget & Monogram Ventures, in 2012 the company raised €2M in series B funding from 3TS Capital.
How the Piano Media Systems work
With the Aug. 2015 merger, Piano's clients will be moving to the Tinypass platform called VX, a stand-alone turnkey paywall solution used by magazines in the Time Inc. group, M. DuMont Schauberg and Canada's Postmedia Network. This solution is the most popular paywall being used by the newspaper industry today because it allows Piano and the publisher to collect user data to drive revenue.[3]
As of March 2012, media earn monthly in average 1.1 eurocent per visitor.[4]
According to Matus Kostolny, only unique content is locked and the rest is free, which enables newspapers to keep traffic on the website.[5] SME.sk also restricted comments under articles to 3 comments per user and day for readers without Piano. A similar restriction was introduced in Pravda, but was later lifted.[6] [7]
History of Piano Media Systems
In September 2011 Piano received Series-A funding from Jan Jenča and Ivan Štefunko at Monogram Ventures. Piano is using the money to solidify their Slovak market share and expand into several other European countries.In January 2012 Piano Media expanded into Slovenia, bringing seven publishers into the common payment system. In April 2012 Piano secured €2 million in a Series B growth capital round from 3TS Capital Partners’ Technology in Central and Eastern Europe Fund S.C.A. SICAR. Piano will use the money to accelerate their growth worldwide.[8]
July 2012 Piano Media launched its third national payment system in Poland, teaming up with seven publishers who put more than 42 different magazines, newspapers and the national radio station in Piano's system.
In November 2012 Piano assumed all the rights and some developers from the Austrian firm Novosense.
Criticism
Piano has been criticized for manipulated numbers claimed during paidContent conference. Its CEO Tomáš Bella expressed hope that 1% of the Slovakian internet population would become subscribers. Piano estimated in 2011 the Slovakian internet population to be 2.3 million people,[9] but Eurostat 2011[10] and AIMmonitor (a service of IAB Slovakia)[11] estimate 3.3 and 2.8 million people respectively, many of them dissatisfied with the customer service provided.[9]
In May 2014, Piano released subscriber and revenue details from the first three years of Slovak activity to refute claims by blogger Rastislav Kuciak, that according to public accounts summary, Piano has 3,800 to 5,400 subscribers,[12] [13] far less than the official estimate of 20,000 subscribers. Piano's CEO Bella objected, stating that Piano has more subscribers than estimated by bloggers, but did not supply additional details.[14] However, Piano publicly released numbers in their third year of operating a national paywall for the media in Slovakia.
Further reading
- News: Read all about it – if you have a credit card: Poland's great paywall gamble kicks off. . Michiel . van Blommestein . Sep 4, 2012.
- News: Piano: First figures, first disappointment. . Rastislav . Kuciak . August 17, 2012.
- News: Why Piano Media is Worth Watching. . Andrew . Beaujon . July 18, 2012.
- News: Wielki sukces! Piano Media expands its national paywall model to Poland . . Andrew . Phelps . July 19, 2012.
- News: Forty-two Polish News Sites Push Piano's Pay Switch. . Robert . Andrews . July 18, 2012.
- News: Piano Media Brings National Media Paywall to Poland . . Nick . Clayton . July 19, 2012.
- News: A National Paywall that Works . . William . Baker . Feb 14, 2012.
- News: Another brick in the wall . . October 8, 2011.
- News: An internet paywall for all . . Jan . Cienski . October 6, 2011.
- News: In Slovakia, News Outlets Take Cue From Cable . . Eric . Pfanner . April 24, 2011.
- News: Slovak media goes behind paywall . BBC . May 7, 2011.
- News: Slovak Entrepreneurs to Test Charging for News Online . . Leos . Rousek . April 27, 2011.
- News: La prensa eslovaca lanza un modelo pionero de pago de contenidos "on line" . Spanish . . Ramiro . Villapadierna . May 12, 2011.
- News: The newsonomics of Piano Media . Ken . Doctor . . October 20, 2011.
- News: Mutter. Alan. How to sell content by making it easy to buy. June 22, 2011. blog:Newsosaur. June 22, 2011.
- News: Piano paywall takes €40k in Slovakia . . Roy . Greenslade . June 20, 2011.
- Slovak Publishers Generate Record Revenues . Piano Media . June 20, 2011 . October 28, 2014.
- News: Felix . Gillette . August 25, 2011 . Online Media: The Great Pay Wall of Slovakia . https://web.archive.org/web/20110913020053/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/online-media-the-great-pay-wall-of-slovakia-08252011.html . dead . September 13, 2011 . Bloomberg Businessweek.
Notes and References
- News: Online Paywall Builders Piano Media and Tinypass Merge . re/code . Peter. Kafka . Aug 11, 2015.
- News: Slovakia's Piano Media buys US counterpart Press+ to create world's largest digital paywall tech company . TechEU . Robin. Wauters . Sep 9, 2014.
- News: Real Paywall Value May Lie In Data . NetNewsCheck . Erica . Sweeney . Jan 29, 2015.
- Web site: Piano médiám prináša len 1.1 centu na návštevníka za mesiac . DSL.sk . 2012-10-18.
- News: Slovak Media Follow Murdoch by Pushing Online Paywall Plan . Bloomberg . Radoslav . Tomek . Kristen . Schweizer . May 12, 2011.
- Web site: Piano dostalo ďalší úder, Pravda vyňala z Piana diskusie . DSL.sk . 2012-02-04 . 2012-10-18.
- Web site: Pravda.sk uvoľňuje debaty zo siete Piano - Pravda.sk . Spravy.pravda.sk . February 2012. 2012-10-18.
- News: Invest IQ. Piano Strikes A €2 Million Chord With 3TS. 23 April 2012. Invest IQ.
- Web site: Piano v zahraničí tvrdí, že má cca 20 tisíc predplatiteľov a v SR používajú Internet len 2 milióny . DSL.sk . 2012-10-18.
- Web site: Statistics in focus . 2012-10-18.
- Web site: Aimmonitor: 04 2012 . iabslovakia.sk . 2012-10-18.
- Web site: Rastislav Kuciak . Piano: Prvé čísla, prvé sklamanie? Blog - Rastislav Kuciak (blog.sme.sk) . Rastislavkuciak.blog.sme.sk . 2012-10-18.
- Web site: Piano v roku 2011: Výrazná strata, 5 400 predplatiteľov - Živé.sk . Zive.sk . 2012-10-18.
- Web site: Filip Hanker . Šéf Piana: Máme oveľa viac predplatiteľov, než sa zdá z uzávierky - Živé.sk . Zive.sk . 2012-10-06 . 2012-10-18.