The New York Times is no longer restricting non-subscribers’ access to its video content. The move, which comes as the Times tightens other parts of its paywall, is part of the paper’s plans to expand its brand in the video space. Read more at paidContent »
The U.K.’s legal deposit rules, which require publishers to submit copies of all publications to national and other major libraries, have been updated to cover everything from blogs to tweets. Read more at paidContent »
New owner Jay Penske is shutting down Variety magazine’s daily print edition and removing the paywall around the century-old tabloid’s online content. But will these radical moves help the paper survive against more nimble rivals? Read more at paidContent »
A news report gave the New York Times some powerful validation for its online paywall model. But a closer look at the numbers show that digital subscriber dollars can only be one part of the Times’ future. Read more at paidContent »
News Corp. has said it is finally shutting down The Daily, the iPad-only newspaper it launched in 2011. Although the media giant should be given some credit for experimenting with a new medium, there were obvious signs that The Daily was doomed from the start. Read more »
Tthe New York Times and the Wall Street Journal lowered their paywalls in advance of the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, and a discussion about their motivation for doing so highlights the tension between the newspaper as a vehicle for public information and as a commercial entity. Read more »
Like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, the New York Times is having to run faster and faster to try to fill the gap left by declining advertising revenue, but even a rapidly growing subscription base doesn’t seem to be accomplishing that. Read more »
The New York Times Co. used to rely on About/com for good news; now overhauling the info site is dragging down earnings. Meanwhile, reliance on digital revenue is increasing even as the company works to stem declines in digital advertising revenues. Read more at paidContent »
The Chicago Tribune will at last begin charging for its online content through an innovative scheme that will also give readers access to a premium package of third party content. Read more at paidContent »
Piano Media, the joint web news payment system operating in Slovakia and Slovenia, is preparing to launch in a third, larger market this summer, after recently taking funding for globalisation. Read more at paidContent »
For the next 12 days, readers can get free access to BostonGlobe.com by entering their email address. Read more at paidContent »
Google has closed down One Pass, the paid content platform for publishers that it rolled out in February 2011 and revamped in February 2012. Read more at paidContent »
It’s powering paid online bundles of rival news publishers in eastern Europe. Now Piano Media is taking on €2 million from VCs to try taking the idea overseas. Read more at paidContent »
Is there a way for newspapers to generate revenue without a paywall? Yes. They could try to think about developing a relationship with readers that is based on mutual exchange of benefits, and let the monetization flow from that instead of just asking for a handout. Read more »
Start-up DoubleRecall is turning paywalls into branding opportunities that give consumers access to premium content on websites and mobile apps if they type out a few words from a sponsor message. The model boosts brand recognition, drives higher revenue for publishers and gives users free content. Read more »
Plenty of people seem convinced the New York Times paywall is working. But what does that mean? Is the NYT getting readers to pay? Yes. But the long-term value of that is still an open question — and a paywall remains a fundamentally defensive strategy. Read more »
Columbia’s school of journalism has released a report on the media industry that describes a landscape filled with disruption and confusion. Although there are some hints of possible new business models, most media companies simply don’t understand enough about what is happening to their traditional businesses. Read more »
The New York Times’ latest financial results are a snapshot of a traditional media giant that is trying desperately to move into the digital future, but keeps getting dragged back down by the weight of its legacy businesses, whose health continues to decline. Read more »
Hitwise data shows the New York Times has seen traffic fall by 5 to 15 percent a day since it put up a pay wall. That may not seem like much, but it’s a significant drop, and it reinforces the risks in such a strategy. Read more »
Yes, the New York Times pay plan is confusing — but the biggest problem with the subscription idea is that it is fundamentally backward-looking. It feels like a defensive move to buy some time while the paper figures out what it wants to be. Read more »
As the financial screws continue to tighten on traditional media companies, more and more are choosing to throw their eggs into the basket labelled “paywall” — including the New York Times. But in the long run, these walls are really just sandbags against a rising tide. Read more »
In another attempt to undo the Internet, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Gannett chain today launched a new service that they hope will convince readers to pay for their content, even though much of it is already available online for free. Read more »
News Corp. has finally released official figures on the effect of paywalls at two of its British newspapers, which show that the two papers have lost a huge proportion of their previous readership, and only a tiny fraction of those readers have chosen to pay. Read more »
Estimates are that a paywall at the Times of London has led to a drop of 65 percent in online readership. But owner Rupert Murdoch may not care, because the wall is as much about keeping existing print readers in as keeping new web readers out. Read more »
The New York Times announced yesterday that it is planning to launch a “metered access” system for its web site next year. Here are a few of the smart people writing about the topic that you should read (apart from us). Read more »
