The New York Times has announced that it will begin charging readers for content once again. The last time the Times tried this, readership for its top columnists plummeted and the experiment was eventually scrapped. This time, the newspaper will allow readers to read a certain number of articles, then charge them if they want to read more.
The New York-based publisher said in a statement today that it will give users access to a set number of articles a month for free on NYTimes.com and charge a fee for further reading. Subscribers to the New York Times print edition won't be charged for Web access.
The so-called metered model mirrors that of the Financial Times, owned by London-based Pearson Plc, which allows users to access 10 free articles monthly before charging at least $3.59 weekly to continue. The Web site of News Corp.'s Wall Street Journal is subscription-based.
"A metered model is a good option for them because you can still bring casual readers in to the front page, but you can monetize the dedicated readers," Barry L. Lucas, a Rye, New York-based Gabelli & Co. analyst who rates Times Co. shares "hold," said in an interview. "They've needed to do this for a long time because they’ve been giving away their content."
The publisher has been studying paid models for its free site since at least February 2009, when Executive Editor Bill Keller said in an online question-and-answer session that he was considering charging for all or some Web content.
Times Co. experimented with charging users for some opinion and editorial content in a service called Times Select that ran for two years through 2007. At its peak, 200,000 users paid for Times Select and it generated $10 million in revenue, Keller has said.
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations newspaper readership is down 11% across the board. The Times' print circulation is down 7.3% to its lowest number since 1985, with 927,851 paid subscribers.
We hate the whole micropayment concept. It's annoying, especially if a lot of sites go to this model. If they're going to make people subscribe, then they should do it on a yearly basis. That simplifies the accounting.
