News of the World website to launch paywall in October

The News of the World's website will go behind a paywall next month.

Publisher News International confirmed the plans today, following reports last month and the introduction of paid access to the Times and Sunday Times websites in July.

The paywall will go up in October and will charge customers £1 for a day's access or £1.99 for a four-week subscription to a relaunched News of the World site, a release from News International explains. As an introductory offer, readers who register their details on the site will be given a period of free access to the new site.

The new site will focus on the title's strengths online: its exclusive videos and images. According to editor Colin Myler, the new site will feature "better delivery, content and greater depth" and include new features, such as the Quick Flick reader to navigate between stories and a larger, better quality video player. The paywalled site will also offer subscribers the option to download a copy of the printed edition of the paper including football supplement Score and Fabulous magazine.

All the existing stories, videos, pictures and comments on the News of the World website will migrate to the new site.

The website for sister magazine Fabulous will also be relaunched as part of the plans. Access to this site will be included in the pricing packages for the News of the World site.

"The News of the World website will be the third of our titles to launch a paid-for digital proposition in under four months. News International is leading the industry by delivering on its commitment to develop new ways of making the business of news an economically exciting proposition," says Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, in the release.

In May the Times and Sunday Times launched new websites and introduced a paywall of £1 per day or £2 per week in July after a free trial. No official figures for customer take-up for the sites have been released by News International.

Prior to erecting its paywall, the Times withdrew its website from the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic's (ABCe) monthly traffic reports. The News of the World's website is not audited by the ABCe but according to the paper, in October 2009 the site attracted a record number of daily UK visitors with 585,000.

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