Thanks to the rise of music and film piracy, consumers have high expectations of content that is paid-for. Internet users can access free articles and breaking-news stories through numerous sources, via search engines or social media feeds. Consumers’ attitudes towards online news content are driving publishers to apply innovation to their business models (MPP Global, 2013).
Newspaper publishers have experimented with ways of generating revenue from their online content. The Wall Street Journal was the first national newspaper to employ a metered paywall on their website. This allowed readers to browse the website’s content for free until they reach a maximum limit of articles and had to pay a subscription fee to access any further content (Johnston, 2011). The theory behind this model is to let the reader experience enough content to be convinced by its value and persuaded to pay the subscription fee. Paywalls have been employed with mixed results. The Wall Street Journal successfully maintained a high level of web traffic from light readers whilst retaining a smaller, lucrative subscriber base (Johnston, 2011), whilst the limitations of this model are demonstrated by the New York Times’ failure to prevent their content being read for free. Readers were able to continue accessing up to five free articles everyday from Google and social media, even after the limit of twenty free articles a month was reached. What's more, ereader subscribers did not receive the same benefits as print subscribers (Johnston, 2011).
In 2013 The Telegraph became the first British newspaper to employ a metered paywall on its website. All users can undergo a free month trial, which according to the Telegraph’s press release, results in nine out of ten readers subscribing after completion (Greenslade, 2013).
The results from subscription-based initiatives have lead the publishing industry to divide between paywalls and advertising-funded initiatives, such as favoured by the Guardian and the Mail Online. The Guardian is now clearly identifiable as an internet brand and the Mail Online boasts a significant 150 million unique visitors each month (Gore, 2014).
With publishers giving out their content for free, the impact remains to be seen on those who employ paywalls. Even though the paywall versus free-access debate shows no sign of being resolved (Gore, 2014), the success of metered models will be down to the publisher’s ability to create content that readers are willing to pay for. As newspaper publishers continue to experiment with business models their focus will not be on replicating the ideals of the print brand, but catering for a variety of audiences who want to access content in different formats (Gore, 2014).
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Reference List:
Greenslade, R. (2013). Telegraph to put up metered paywall. The Guardian, 26 March. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/mar/26/telegraph-paywall (Accessed 30 October 2014).
Gore, W. (2014). Print running: Newspapers innovating for new audiences. Index on Censorship 43(3), pp.51-54. Academic Search Complete [Online]. Available at: http://ioc.sagepub.com.oxfordbrookes.idm.oclc.org/content/43/3/51.full.pdf+html (Accessed 24 November 2014).
Hall, F. (2013). The Business of Digital Publishing. Oxford: Routledge.
Johnston, N. (2011). New York Times Metered Model. Available at: http://www.wpp.com/wpp/marketing/digital/new-york-times-metered-model/ (Accessed 30 October 2014).
MPP Global. (2013). Will your digital publishing business model stand the test of time? Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFAmyY4a8ow (Accessed 30 October 2014).
Somaiya, R. (2014). The New Yorker Alters Its Online Strategy. The New York Times, 8 July. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/09/business/media/the-new-yorker-alters-its-online-strategy.html?_r=0 (Accessed 30 October 2014).
The Week Staff. (2010). ‘The Media’s Risky Paywall Experiment: A Timeline’, The Week, (July 30). Available at: http://theweek.com/article/index/205465/the-medias-risky-paywall-experiment-a-timeline (Accessed 30 October 2014).