New York Times Charging Readers For Online Content
by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg on 03/02/10 at 11:59 am
1 comment
America’s most popular newspaper website has now decided that its era of free online journalism is drawing to a close. Now, what does this mean for the consumer and how could it affect the industry? I did some research on what people are saying about this and here’s what they think:
The New York Times has plans to set up a paywall around its digital offerings which will be introduced in the beginning of 2011. Readers will be able to view only a specific number of online articles for free per month and there after pay for other content. Here’s what people have been commenting on a few international media sites:
Robstumpf – “Wow, I can see both sides of this argument. Well-educated journalists who are talented writers should be paid for their work. Yet, free online access for those who cannot afford to purchase paper copies of the NYT is an important resource to so many world citizens. There has to be a middle ground, one would think. I have the NYT app on my iphone, and wouldn’t mind one bit paying a monthly premium to keep the access. We (as a green measure) subscribe to paper-free editions of our local papers (Toledo Blade and Akron Beacon Journal). I think that the NYT could be the same…some free online access for all, but broader in scope for paid subscribers. Such a quandry…”
Serguy – “Excellent move. This move will immediately eliminate Armchair Warriors fighting for any imaginary issue from “man made global warming” to “electing an “American” president”. Excellent. The Guardian should do the same.”
Rob – “They also said no one would pay for music when everyone was stealing it from Napster. Even though free music abounds, Itunes is a huge $$ maker for Apple.
People will pay for News, if all papers join together.
that is the only way to put the genie back in the bottle.”
This is what South Africans think:
Apoc Riles – “The NYT are about to see a huge drop is readership figures.”
Matt Commbes – “Yeah Apoc, definitely. They may be the one of the largest online newspapers, but people can very, VERY easily find alternative sources for their news fix. People will not be prepared to pay, especially in such turbulent economic times, for a service like the news. I myself visit several on a daily basis, and to lose one is not really that big a deal. This is a big mistake by the NYT and it’s going to come back to haunt them.”
Just Observing – “They tried with Times Select a few years ago and it didn’t work. I think the only conditions under which it might work are if you had a monopoly. There are so many resources out there now that it’s mind-boggling, and can be hard for readers to distinguish who is a reputable source and who is Uncle Jimmy blogging in the basement in his underwear. If you had the Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, the BBC, the Times of London, Le Monde, International Herald-Trib, etc–all decide to charge, and perhaps even do it as a pool–one fee gets access to all–then it might work as they could make the case that their brand and the quality of their work is worth paying for. But you can’t have just one do it if the others aren’t.”
Kerry Ryan – “If Lehman Brothers can collapse, so can New York Times. Sulzberger Jnr should not assume that pay for view is going to get the company out of the dwang. If he does think that, he’s in he a shock. As a longtime, online reader of the NYT, there has been a decline in the quality of their journalism since late 2007. The low point was coverage of the US president elections – and that from a Democratic sympathiser. I certainly won’t pay to read their articles online.”
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Yolandi Janse van Rensburg writes about social media, marketing, life and, of course, cars. We say “of course” because Yolandi is nuts about anything on 4 wheels and runs Autofemme, a blog about cars. Our Ideate sub-editor is also the Heavy Chef girl at World Wide Creative. You can follow her on Twitter @Yolandi_JvR View more articles by Yolandi Janse van Rensburg.
Tags: Journalism
Tyron Bache
Feb 3rd, 2010
A local Pietermaritzburg paper that has gone online is already doing that – http://www.witness.co.za – you have to be a subscriber to view the latest or premium content. Not sure what effect it has had on their readership and turnover.