Paywall Watch: From California to Great Britain

It’s been an interesting year for paywalls on news sites. Many sites are trying them out, some are taking them down, and others are tweaking them.

We’ve talked previously about various paywall strategies and how recent court rulings have affected media monitoring companies. It’s not clear how things will shake out, but the online news landscape is undeniably changing.

Let’s walk through some notable examples.

Variety’s Paywall Comes Down

[Recently the entertainment publication relaunched itself as a glossy weekly magazine, also called Variety, to accompany its newly free, un-paywalled website. There, in addition to covering film and television and major Hollywood studios, it has added a new focus: streaming content.“There’s a lot of trial and error going on here,” says Cynthia Littleton, one of the publication’s three editors-in-chief.

San Fran Chronicle Launches Paywall

As more newspapers are scrambling for profits in the face of sagging print advertising revenue, many are looking to make up for the decline -- and the Chronicle is no exception. The newspaper is looking to drum up more cash by offering in-depth articles and columns for a monthly fee on a site that's separate from SFGate.com, which will remain free. According to a post on Saturday announcing SFChronicle.com:

Subscribers to the new website will find the newspaper's unrivaled content with brilliant photos, an uncluttered format and the familiar design of the Chronicle. Premium stories and columns will update and change with the news throughout the day.

In some ways, the move appears to be a bid to woo more readers back to good old-fashioned print. The lowest-priced subscription for all-digital content costs $12 per month -- but readers can sign up to get the same online content, plus the Sunday edition of the newspaper delivered to their homes, for the exact same price. Digital access to SFChronicle.com plus Friday-Sunday delivery costs $3.60 per week, while access to the site in addition to Monday-Sunday delivery will set you back $5 per week

Sun and Telegraph Cause “Wholesale Rethink” from Publishers

The Telegraph has publicized the website meter to readers via the newspaper and online and has contacted advertisers and agencies via email. The email states the paywall will help advertisers “develop a closer rapport with readers” and make campaign budgets “work harder and smarter” through the launch of new ad packages based on actual demographic data given by subscribers at registration...

The Sun has not revealed exact plans for its forthcoming pay model to be introduced later this year. A spokesman says it will offers readers “a bigger and better experience”.

Douglas McCabe, media analyst at Enders Analysis, says the two announcements mark “important milestones” and will require a “wholesale rethink” from publishers on how they position their online advertising offerings.

OC Register Implements 7 Day Trials

[R]eaders who want to browse the newspaper online must buy a subscription or pay a daily rate to have access to the website. Non-subscribers can try the online Register for free for seven days. A limited amount of content such as weather, traffic, movie listings, the calendar of events and headlines of local news stories will remain free.

Washington Post’s Paywall to Go Live This Summer

This summer, The Washington Post will start charging frequent users of its Web site [sic], asking those who look at more than 20 articles or multimedia features a month to pay a fee, although the company has not decided how much it will charge.

The paper said, however, that it will exempt large parts of its audience from having to pay the fees. Its home-delivery subscribers will have free access to all of The Post’s digital products, and students, teachers, school administrators, government employees and military personnel will have unlimited access to the Web site while in their schools and workplaces.

Which strategy will prove to be a winner with these major papers?

• Keep it free like Variety?
• Have a free and paid site like SFGate.com and SFChronicle.com?
• Use metered paywalls and free trials?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Leave a Comment April 18, 2013

Major Papers Tightening Online Paywalls

In 2011, The Grey Lady made waves by introducing its paywall. It received its share of praise and criticisms about its long term viability, ability to pay the bills, and potential alienation of its readership. Recently, several major US papers have followed the Times’ example by erecting paywalls of their own. Papers are plugging the gaps in their systems and the leaky paywall itself may become a thing of the past.

Washington Post

The Washington Post is the latest of the big papers to consider going behind a paywall. Rather than following the “charge first and ask questions later” strategy of some other sites, it is actively gathering information from its users beforehand. In preparation for its imminent block, visitors are being polled on:

• How often they read the site.
• What other sites they read,.How much would they pay?

As the Washington BizJournal reports:

There were three options… seven-day delivery and unlimited Web access for $24.95 a month, unlimited Web access without a print subscription for $14.95 a month, and Sunday delivery plus unlimited Web access for $7.95 a month.

Boston Globe

The Boston Globe previously allowed visitors from Social Media sites to read 5 articles per month before requiring a subscription. That number has now dropped to 2 articles per month.

This change only affects the BostonGlobe.com site. They still maintain their free Boston.com site, which contains less content.

Globe spokeswoman Ellen Clegg says, “We have been trying to find the right balance between the free-sharing culture of the Internet and paid access to premium Globe content.”

New York Times

The Paper of Record has knocked off one way of getting around its paywall. Visitors can no longer trim the URL to avoid triggering the pay warning. This was the easiest and most common method of avoidance, though several more still remain.

Spokesperson Eileen Murphy says that keeping these venues of free access open is a feature, not a bug:

When we launched our digital subscription plan we knew there were loopholes to access our content beyond the allotted number of articles each month. We have made some adjustments and will continue to make adjustments to optimize the gateway by implementing technical security solutions to prohibit abuse and protect the value of our content.

What Does It Mean?

Paywalls seem to be where the online news industry is heading, at least for now. These three papers have different methods of going about it:

• WashPo: Getting feedback on various payment plans before proceeding.
• Boston Globe: Offering a free option and a superior paid option with few leaks.
• NYT: Making the paywall leaky to get users acclimated before clamping down.

Opinions run strong on which method is best, or if paywalls are a viable long-term solution for monetizing online news. I think that DigitalFirst’s John Paton’s words of caution are appropriate for those of us on the outside. We should be humble in drawing our conclusions:

[E]motional arguments over what something is worth in a market economy is a near worthless waste of time at the expense of finding real solutions to the problem.

What other paywall strategies have you seen?

Leave a Comment February 22, 2013