Scaling the New York Times paywall
Jeremy Hobson: News this morning that the Huffington Post has snatched another reporter away from the New York Times. The Times is struggling to keep readers — and revenue — in the new world of online media.
You’ve probably heard about the fees users now have to pay to read stories at the Times website.
Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall Genzer has this report on how the paywall experiment is going one month in.
Nancy Marshall Genzer: The Times says it’s got more than 100,000 new online subscribers so far.
Magnus Hoglund follows the media business for Law360.com.
Magnus Hoglund: Yeah, I would say that seems pretty decent in just a few weeks.
But the Times needs about a quarter-million new subscribers within 18 months for the experiment to succeed, according to Ken Doctor. He’s a media analyst with the Outsell research group. He says if the Times reaches its goal, it could charge more for online ads, because it’ll have registration information from new subscribers and will know their reading and clicking habits.
Ken Doctor: And when you combine that registration data with the click stream behavior, then you have an advertiser’s dream.
The Times could use some extra cash right now. Last week, the company reported its first quarter net income fell by more than 50 percent.
In Washington, I’m Nancy Marshall Genzer for Marketplace.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
