This week the Times finally put an end to the speculation surrounding the success of their online paywall.
News International made their subscription figures public showing so far The Times online has experienced 105,000 paying customers in the four months since the paywall went up, while another 100,000 have a subscription to read the papers online as well as in print.
Furthermore, Around 50,000 of the digital-only subscribers are monthly and include subscribers to the website, iPad app and Kindle edition, with the later two being more expensive. The rest of users are either single copy or pay-as-you go customers.
Despite News International expressing how The Times online isn’t chasing numbers, it is instead aiming to build loyalty and engagement. Its average page views per user decreased to six, and time spent on a page decreased to five minutes, according to ComScore.
The real test for this experiment is whether, in the future, the paywall will deliver greater revenue than was already available to the paper when their content was freely available online.
Zach Leonard, former Times Newspapers digital publisher, described the publication of the sale figures as “exciting”, and highlighted the insight into their readers and quality of information gathered as something other newspapers should be jealous of.
Leonard, who is now the MD of digital for The Independent and Evening Standard, went on to say: “It will take years to get the mix right between subs, ads and ecommerce.
We appreciate News International is resourced well enough to take the risk on behalf of the digital news industry. High-quality journalism is worth paying for through digital channels but it means delivering real value to users in terms of design, multimedia, interactivity, scoops and currency.”
In further news relating to the Times paywall, The Times director of digital Gurtej Sandhu is set to leave, having overseen the launch of the newspaper’s paywall.
In other recent news, The Guardian appears to suggest that they are moving towards an online subscription, although only in a partial manner. Guardian News & Media announced that the IPhone app is moving from a one-off charge to a subscription model.
It is believed that from as early as next month, users will pay a £2.99 for six months assess to the app or alternatively £3.99 for 12 months access.
However, the Guardian News & Media has also emphasised their mobile site is set to remain ad-funded and subscription free.
