Paid content news and features 
Digital subscribers to the Times continue to rise
New figures released by News International show digital subscribers to the Times rose by 2 per cent in January, while iPad copy downloads were up 35 per cent on September last year
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 15/02/12#jpod - Paywalls: Helping readers over the fence
A look at how publishers are working in collaboration to set up paywalls and a digital kiosk to sell content for tablets and how the Financial Times and New York Times could be encouraging online subscriptions by raising the cost of their print publications
Posted by Sarah Marshall on 13/01/12TheMediaBriefing launches British Media Awards
Media news site TheMediaBriefing launches new awards offering prizes for media companies demonstrating innovation in their business models
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 09/01/12The Australian to launch paywall on Monday
News Limited title will launch freemium model on Monday based on Wall Street Journal digital subscriptions, claiming to be first general newspaper in Australia to do so
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 20/10/11Independent launches metered paywall outside UK
The Independent has launched a metered paywall model for readers in North America and Canada as well as a new 'freemium' model iPad app at the end of the month
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 10/10/11Tablets replace websites as focus for paid content
Majority of respondents to Association of Online Publishers' annual census name tablets as primary platform for paid content
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 08/09/11News Corp outlines 'freemium' subscription model for Australian
Chief executive officer of News Digital Media and the Australian Richard Freudenstein announces plans for digital subscriptions to be launched next month
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 07/06/11Forbes magazine announces new European edition
New bi-weekly magazine will be published in English and distributed in 11 countries
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 11/05/11RR Donnelley buys Journalism Online and its Press+ paid content system
Deal will see Journalism Online founders Steve Brill and Gordon Crovitz stay on at the company they started in April 2009
Posted by Joel Gunter on 25/03/11New York Times to launch paywall on March 28
New charging system will allow 20 free articles per month and include exemptions for links from social media, blogs and search engines
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 17/03/11Google announces One Pass online payment system for publishers
Google's payment system launched a day after Apple's rival subscription service
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 16/02/11Just 2% of readers willing to pay for news online, suggests study
New research will make unhappy reading for those planning paywlls, as 98% say they would not pay and 79% say they would go elsewhere
Posted by Laura Oliver on 06/12/10Times paywall has converted 14 per cent of audience to subscribers, says new research
Report from Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates suggests title has lost 86 per cent of its online audience
Posted by Joel Gunter on 02/12/10News International publishes paywall figures, claims 105,000 online customers
First figures since paywall went up in July show 105,000 'digital sales' and 100,000 additional registrations from print subscribers
Posted by Laura Oliver on 02/11/10News of the World goes behind paywall
Access to redesigned site will cost £1 for 24 hours or £1.99 for four weeks
Posted by Laura Oliver on 14/10/10#WEFHamburg: Paywall will not remove NYT from 'online conversation', says CEO
New York Times Company CEO Janet Robinson says first click free strategy will keep paper in 'open web eco system'
Posted by Laura Oliver on 07/10/10Building Design website puts 'premium' content behind paywall
Breaking news, video content and newsletters to remain free under new three-tier access model
Posted by Laura Oliver on 22/09/10Generation Y-pay and the culture of free
Ciaran Jones, news reporter, Media Wales
Posted by Ciaran Jones on 22/09/10News of the World to launch iPad app in paywall plans
App will cost £1.19 a week and will be charged separately from access to website
Posted by Laura Oliver on 16/09/10< Previous Next >
#wef12: CEO of Australia's Fairfax Media encourages publishers to make 'the big calls now'
Chief executive of Australia's Fairfax Media details the process of restructuring the business and says the newspaper will be placed 'at the end of the process'
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 4 September 2012#wef12: WSJ's Raju Narisetti on 'copycat' paywalls and the 'golden' future of digital advertising
Speaking at the World Editors Forum on Monday (3 September), managing editor for the Wall Street Journal’s digital network Raju Narisetti said he had concerns about many US “copycat” paywalls, and whether they would be able to generate the necessary revenues to succeed financially. Instead, he predicted that “the golden age of digital advertising lies [...]
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 4 September 2012#wef12: 5 steps from New York Times Company on building digital subs model
The latest results reported by the New York Times Company showed a total of more than 500,ooo paid digital subscribers. This was an increase on the 454,000 paying subscribers recorded a year after NYT.com launched its online subscriptions model, which refers to subscribers across the New York Times and International Herald Tribune. And this is not [...]
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 3 September 2012#paywalls12 - The Economist: 'We have doubled content in two years'
'We want to be ahead of of the game when people move from print to digital', says vice president of customer engagement at the Economist
Posted by Sarah Marshall on 23 February 2012#paywalls12 - Looking outside: five paid-content lessons from Denmark, Slovakia and Slovenia
Five lessons from Denmark's largest private media company and from Piano Media, which is behind Slovakia and Slovenia's joint paywalls
Posted by Sarah Marshall on 23 February 2012#paywalls12 - Niche content paywalls: three success stories
How Lloyds List, Incisive Media and Haymarket's motorsport titles are making money from digital content
Posted by Sarah Marshall on 23 February 2012Media release: Piano Media raises paywall price with 'steady revenue' in place
Piano Media has announced that it is raising the price of the national paywall it established in Slovakia last year, a move its CEO Tomas Bella says in a release was planned for once it was 'accepted'
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 14 February 2012#news2011: Paywalls - 'the solution is going to be unique and individual'
The discussion at the Global Editors Network news summit looked at paywalls and paid-for apps
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 29 November 2011Sydney Morning Herald: The Australian to reveal paywall details this week
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that News Limited (the Australian arm of News Corporation) will officially announce its paywall for the Australian this week, after it outlined plans for a ‘freemium’ subscription model for its online content back in June. It had already been announced that the model will offer access to some content [...]
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 18 October 2011#wef11: Publishers share paywall strategies and lessons learnt
“Don’t be afraid” – this was just one of many messages given by a panel of publishers at the World Editors Forum today, who shared their experiences of erecting “paywalls” or what came to be termed by the panel as “leaky walls”. The panel featured three news outlets which have all established paid-content systems in [...]
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 15 October 2011OJR: Apps v eBooks - are we missing paid content opportunity?
On the Online Journalism Review Robert Niles assess the missed opportunities for news organisations overlooking value of eBooks
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 14 September 2011News International to rethink 'iron-curtain' paywall approach for the Sun
During a debate at City University London, News International's head of marketing has revealed the Sun online will remain outside the paywall until a suitable paid content model is found, while the Guardian's media editor confirmed a commitment to a free website
Posted by Ben Whitelaw on 10 May 2011Slovakian media goes behind the paywall
Yesterday nine news outlets in Slovakia joined together to put up a joint paywall in front of parts of its content – some more than others – as part of a new premium content subscription model by Piano Media. The platform means users pay a monthly fee of €2.90 (.20) for unlimited access to all [...]
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 19 April 2011Will the Shropshire and Wolverhampton walls pay?
Part-paywalls have gone up at the UK’s biggest-selling regional daily, the Wolverhampton-based Express and Star, and at sister title, the Shropshire Star. Breaking news will remain free but other content, such as football reports, are now behind the wall. But will Wolverhampton and Shropshire pay? At £2.19 more a month than the Times, is £12.18 [...]
Posted by Sarah Marshall on 5 April 2011Bloomberg: US publisher Gannett trialing paid-content model
US publisher Gannett (which is parent company to Newsquest in the UK) is trying out a paid-content model at three of its newspaper websites while it considers a broader online payment model, Bloomberg reported this week. Chief executive officer Craig Dubow told Bloomberg that Gannett is likely to experiment more before making a decision about [...]
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 8 March 2011Telegraph web rumours: Is metered charging the best way forward?
Speculation that Telegraph Media Group is planning to start charging for some of its online content has been brought up again today by Marketing magazine. The magazine’s report claims that the publisher is talking to digital agencies about overhauling Telegraph.co.uk and is considering a hybrid part-paid, part-free model from September. Officially, TMG says it is [...]
Posted by Paul McNally on 22 February 2011European publishers to hold meeting over Apple's proposed subscriptions change
Earlier this month it was alleged that Apple had told a number of European newspapers that soon they would not be able to offer print subscribers free access to iPad editions through the App Store. According to this report by Apple Insider, Apple is keen to make the change to prevent publishers cutting it out [...]
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 2 February 2011Rumour mill cranks up over upcoming New York Times 'paywall'
Rumoured details of the yet-to-be-launched New York Times ‘paywall’ are starting to emerge, with the Wall Street Journal reporting today on possible subscription plans, such as a month for a digital bundle package or less than half of that for a web-only deal. Under the new system, expected to be rolled out next month, [...]
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 25 January 2011Joanna Geary: Microsharing – a future we're ignoring?
Joanna Geary raises a new angle on the paid content debate on her blog. The concept is Microsharing: where purchased online content or data is licensed to be shared with selected others. Is it a payment model which could change not only the way we view paying for content, but sharing it as well? In [...]
Posted by Alice Vincent on 5 January 2011Ofcom to allow product placement on UK TV
Broadcast industry regulator Ofcom has announced that product placement will be allowed in UK TV programmes from 28 February 2011. The rules for paid-for references on radio broadcasts have also been revised. Full news release on Ofcom’s website…
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New York Times to cut free online article allowance by half
A year after launching its online digital subscriptions model, the New York Times has halved the number of articles users can view for free before charges kick in, from 20 to 10
Posted by Rachel Bartlett on 20/03/12