Tightened paywalls aim to boost digital paid subscriptions
Print Edition
For those looking for free news online, the search is becoming harder.
Tougher restrictions on online content have boosted digital paid subscriptions at many news organizations, amid a growing trend keeping content behind a “paywall.”
Free news has by no means disappeared, but recent moves by media groups and Facebook and Google supporting paid subscriptions is forcing free-riders to scramble.
“I think there is a definite trend for people to start paying for at least one news source,” said Rebecca Lieb, an analyst who follows digital media for Kaleido Insights.
Lieb said consumers have become more amenable to paying for digital services and that investigative reporting on politics in Washington and elsewhere has made consumers aware of the value of journalism.
A study last year by the Media Insight Project found 53 percent of Americans have paid for at least one news subscription.
“Services like Netflix and Spotify have helped people get into the habit of paying for digital content they used to get for free,” said Damian Radcliffe, a journalism professor at the University of Oregon. “People recognize that if you value journalism, you need to pay for it.”
Newspapers seeking to make a transition from print to digital have found it difficult to replace the advertising revenues that were long the staple of the publications. News organizations are unable to compete against giants like Google and Facebook for digital advertising, and are turning increasingly to readers.
“For large-scale news organizations whether they are national or regional, that want to have a large reporting staff, reader revenue needs to be the number one source,” said Ken Doctor, a media analyst and consultant.
Doctor said some news organizations are getting close to 50 percent of revenues from subscriptions and sees that rising to as much as 70 percent.
The New York Times reported the number of paid subscribers grew to 2.6 million and that subscriptions accounted for 60 percent of 2017 revenues. The Washington Post last year touted it had more than 1 million paid digital readers.
The Times and Post have both tightened their online paywalls by limiting the number of free articles available. Similar moves have been made at The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and elsewhere.
Facebook and Google recently agreed to help support paywalls for news organizations on their platforms, and Apple agreed to waive its commission for subscription sign-ups from the big social network on its devices.
“This means (online platforms) are trying to work for instead of passively against publishers,” Lieb said. “This is important because search and social are the way people discover news in the digital age.”
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