Cooking Site Claims 80,000 Paid Subs

Ad-free in print and online, Cook’s Illustrated’s site has evolved from a pay-by-the-recipe site in 1998 to a subscription-only site with 80,000-plus subs today paying either $24.95 a year or $3.95 a month and print subs getting a discount price of $19.95. (No sense of which group appints for what percent.) Online subscribers or “web members” — the term used on the site — get access to archives, web-exclusive content, advanced search and something I haven’t seen before, the chance to query professional test cooks directly. The first video only posted recently.
My OJR colleague Mark Glaser looks at the Boston Common Press success story but notes that the site can be less than user friendly at times and a bit pushy about touting the print magazine. “Now that the Web site is becoming a valued property on its own, perhaps Cook’s Illustrated will ratchet back some of its co-marketing efforts and realize that some Web subscribers are happy paying for online access and don’t need or want the print product.”

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