NYT.com introduces paywall
Jinfo Blog

By Penny Crossland

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Posting yesterday that The New York Times paywall was imminent proved to be accurate: paidContent reported later on that day that the paper had launched its digital subscription package in Canada. The idea is test the system for a short trial period, before rolling it out globally on 28 March.

NYT.com has not gone down the UK Times route of putting up a complete barrier to non-subscribers. In fact, it turns out that access to content is quite generous. The NYT subscription plan – free, by the way to print subscribers - allows for users to access 20 articles freely per month before being asked to subscribe. After that, online users have the option of choosing three subscription packages, details of which are explained here. The basic digital package, which includes a smartphone app is $15 per month – comparable to the UK Times’ subscription costs of $16 (equivalent) per month.

However, as Business Insider points out, there are plenty of gaps in the paywall which will allow online users to circumvent payment. For a start, the homepage and all section fronts will remain free for all to browse.

What is most interesting however, is that those accessing NY Times articles via social media or blogs, i.e Facebook and Twitter, will be able to read that content even if they have reached their 20 article limit. Linking to articles via Google News, on the other hand, only allows for five free visits per day.

It would seem that NYT management realises that potential subscribers are more likely to come via social media sites than via Google. One wonders if this decision will eventually have an impact on content, but for now the clear message is that the NYT does not want to alienate the growing social media audience and the likely impact on traffic to its site.

Read the NY Times press release on the subscription launch here.

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