I wrote last week that the NY Times paywall is coming very soon. Now the WSJ has more details:
Under the new system, expected to be rolled out next month, the Times will sell an Internet-only subscription for unlimited access to the Times site, as well as a broader digital package that bundles the Times online with its application on the iPad, according to a person familiar with the matter. Subscribers to the print edition of the paper will get full online privileges at no additional cost, Times executives have said.
Pricing for the complete “digital bundle” will reportedly be about $20 per month with a “web-only” plan for roughly half, according to the article. According to comScore December data, the NY Times’ site is ranked 15th and gets 69 million uniques in the US.
The WSJ quotes unnamed sources saying that the NY Times.com makes “over $100 million” a year on advertising. That ad revenue is at risk with too restrictive a paywall.
The Times is conscious of that so the compapny only going to seek to charge “heavy users.” According to the article roughly 15% of the NYT’s readers qualify in that category. While I understand the rationale, it strikes me as effectively punishing the most loyal readers. I suppose there’s no other way to do it.
The Times is probably one of the few papers that will be able to charge. Others without as much “branded content” will find themselves being abandoned for other free sources (e.g., Yahoo News).
All of these paywall programs appear to throw in all the digital editions to print subscribers.
See related: Ongo: Aggregation So Good, You’ll Pay for It. (Maybe.)
January 25th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Greg Sterling, George Bounacos. George Bounacos said: RT @gsterling: New Details about NYT Paywall http://bit.ly/gBKsPx [...]
January 28th, 2011 at 4:15 pm
[...] The content is by definition undifferentiated and available for free otherwise — though the NY Times paywall is coming — and the design is [...]