Pay wall
Encyclopedia
A paywall is an online device which bars internet users from accessing webpage content (most notably news content) without paid subscription. There are both "hard" and "soft" paywalls in use. "Hard" paywalls allow minimal to no access of content without subscription, while "soft" paywalls allow more flexibility of what users can view without subscribing. Newspapers have been implementing paywalls on their online websites to increase their revenue which has been diminishing due to a decrease in print subscriptions. While paywalls are used to bring in extra revenue for companies by charging for online content, they have also been used to increase the number of print subscribers. Some subscriptions to solely online content, such as a subscription to BostonGlobe.com, or NYTimes.com, cost more per week than an online subscription which includes the Sunday paper. Newspapers use this tactic because an online advertisement only brings in 10-20% of the funds brought in by a duplicate print ad. It is said that "neither digital ad cash nor digital subscriptions via a paywall are in anything like the shape that will be needed for [newspapers] to take the strain if a print presence is wiped away." According to expert Bill Mitchell, in order for a paywall to generate sustainable revenue, newspapers must create "new value" (higher quality, innovative, etcetera) in their online content that merits payment which previously free content did not. Most news coverage of the use of paywalls analyzes them from the perspective of commercial success, whether through increasing revenue by growing print subscriptions or solely through paywall revenue. However, as a solely profit-driven device, the use of a paywall also brings up questions of media ethics pertaining to accessible democratic news coverage.
in 1997 which gained more than 200,000 subscribers in a little over a year. While the WSJ has retained its "hard" paywall since its inception – acquiring over one million users by mid 2007, other papers, prominently The New York Times
, have oscillated between the implementation and removal of various paywalls. Because online news media remains a relatively new medium, experimentation is a key factor in finding a successful balance that will maintain revenue while keeping online news consumers satisfied.
Early implementations of paywalls proved unsuccessful, often resulting in removal. The paywall model received skepticism from a variety of sources, including Arianna Huffington
, who declared "the paywall is history" in a 2009 article in The Guardian
. In 2010, Jimmy Wales
of Wikipedia
fame reportedly called the Times paywall "a foolish experiment." One major concern was with content so widely available, potential subscribers would turn to free sources for their news. The adverse effects of earlier implementations included decline in traffic and poor search engine optimization.
and The Times
requires a paid subscription before any of their online content can be accessed. A paywall of this design is considered "the riskiest option." It is estimated that a website will lose 90% of its online audience and ad revenue only to gain it back through its ability to produce online content appealing enough to attract subscribers. News sites with "hard" paywalls therefore succeed if they:
Many experts denounce the "hard" paywall because of its inflexibility, believing it acts as a major deterrent for users. Financial blogger Felix Salmon writes that when one encounters a "paywall and can’t get past it, [they] simply go away and feel disappointed in [their] experience." Media experts like Jimmy Wales
of Wikipedia have also argued that the use of a "hard" paywall diminishes a site's influence. Wales stated that by implementing a "hard" paywall The Times of London "made itself irrelevant."
The Boston Globe
has taken this separation one step further by creating two different sites. The Boston Globe recently created a new premium content site under the domain name BostonGlobe.com which is protected by a "hard" paywall requiring paid subscription. In addition, however, The Boston Globe is retaining its previous site, Boston.com, available free to all but with only select content remaining on the site. Boston Globe editor Martin Baron states this change should be seen as "two different sites for two different kinds of reader – some understand journalism needs to be funded and paid for. Other people just won't pay. We have a site for them." While the internet was initially promoted as a platform endorsing a "more egalitarian communication system", the dual-site method implemented by The Boston Globe illustrates how a "hard" paywall can create obvious inequalities between content which is free, and content that must be paid for.
— TimesSelect
The Atlantic
Johnston Press
Newsday
started using a paywall in 2005. Now 60% of the magazine content stays behind the subscriber paywall for one month. This includes cover stories and in-depth articles. Managing Director Toby Bray says they are keen to emulate the FT.com model which gives access to a certain number of articles per month across the entire site.
The Wall Street Journal was for a time the last major newspaper in the USA to still have its website behind a paywall, until the New York Times reinstituted one on March 28, 2011. The Journal has almost one million paying online readers, which generates about $65 million a year.
Recent extensions include the idea of a "soft" paywall, one that is relatively porous, with the New York Times version noted as "so porous that it can be considered to be a genuinely freemium model." In such cases the difference between a paywall and a Freemium
model disappears.
announced changes to their "first click free" program which is running since 2008 and allows users e.g. of the Wall Street Journal to find and read articles behind a paywall. The reader's first click to the content is free, and the number after that would be set by the content provider. For publishers, this creates an opportunity to opt for paid content without losing much in terms of search. And for Google it allows paid content news sites to be searchable. Google also previously gave blanket access to FT.com articles that were behind the site's paywall through it's News search engine. Google has since introduced a five article daily limit on this method of bypassing FT.com's paywall.
spoofs the referrer to Google so that multiple "first click free" links can be performed. BreakthePaywall adds an option to Internet Explorer
's context menu which uses various methods (referrer and user-agent spoofing, Cookie deletion).
History
The history of the paywall is one of fluctuation. The first major newspaper to implement a paywall was The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
in 1997 which gained more than 200,000 subscribers in a little over a year. While the WSJ has retained its "hard" paywall since its inception – acquiring over one million users by mid 2007, other papers, prominently The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, have oscillated between the implementation and removal of various paywalls. Because online news media remains a relatively new medium, experimentation is a key factor in finding a successful balance that will maintain revenue while keeping online news consumers satisfied.
Early implementations of paywalls proved unsuccessful, often resulting in removal. The paywall model received skepticism from a variety of sources, including Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington is a Greek American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known as co-founder of the news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted more liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s...
, who declared "the paywall is history" in a 2009 article in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. In 2010, Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
of Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
fame reportedly called the Times paywall "a foolish experiment." One major concern was with content so widely available, potential subscribers would turn to free sources for their news. The adverse effects of earlier implementations included decline in traffic and poor search engine optimization.
"Hard" paywalls
A "hard" paywall, used by such newspapers as The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
requires a paid subscription before any of their online content can be accessed. A paywall of this design is considered "the riskiest option." It is estimated that a website will lose 90% of its online audience and ad revenue only to gain it back through its ability to produce online content appealing enough to attract subscribers. News sites with "hard" paywalls therefore succeed if they:
- Provide added value to their content
- Target a niche audience
- Already dominate their own market
Many experts denounce the "hard" paywall because of its inflexibility, believing it acts as a major deterrent for users. Financial blogger Felix Salmon writes that when one encounters a "paywall and can’t get past it, [they] simply go away and feel disappointed in [their] experience." Media experts like Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
of Wikipedia have also argued that the use of a "hard" paywall diminishes a site's influence. Wales stated that by implementing a "hard" paywall The Times of London "made itself irrelevant."
Combination
A "softer" paywall strategy includes allowing free access to select content, while keeping premium content behind a paywall. Such a strategy has been said to lead to "the creation of two categories: cheap fodder available for free (often created by junior staffers), and more 'noble' content." This type of separation brings into question the egalitarianism of the online news medium. According to political and media theorist Robert A Hackett, "the commercial press of the 1800s, the modern world’s first mass medium, was born with a profound democratic promise: to present information without fear or favour, to make it accessible to everyone, and to foster public rationality based on equal access to relevant facts." Intentional separation of content created by a paywall directly opposes the democratic promise the news medium was founded on, and which the internet originally allowed.The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
has taken this separation one step further by creating two different sites. The Boston Globe recently created a new premium content site under the domain name BostonGlobe.com which is protected by a "hard" paywall requiring paid subscription. In addition, however, The Boston Globe is retaining its previous site, Boston.com, available free to all but with only select content remaining on the site. Boston Globe editor Martin Baron states this change should be seen as "two different sites for two different kinds of reader – some understand journalism needs to be funded and paid for. Other people just won't pay. We have a site for them." While the internet was initially promoted as a platform endorsing a "more egalitarian communication system", the dual-site method implemented by The Boston Globe illustrates how a "hard" paywall can create obvious inequalities between content which is free, and content that must be paid for.
"Soft" paywalls
A "soft" paywall is best embodied in the metered model. A metered paywall allows users to view a specific number of articles before requiring paid subscription. In contrast to sites allowing access to select content outside of the paywall, the metered paywall allows access of any article as long as the user has not surpassed the set limit. The Financial Times allows users to access 10 articles before becoming paid subscribers. The New York Times controversially implemented a metered paywall in June of 2010 which lets users view 20 free articles a month before paid subscription. Their metered paywall has been defined as not only soft, but "porous", because it also allows access to any link posted on a social media site, and up to 25 free articles a day if accessed through a search engine. Using this model, The New York Times garnered 224,000 subscribers in the first three months, illustrating that a metered paywall can be beneficial to a company financially while still allowing access to content for those who cannot, or do not want to pay.Failed paywalls
The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
— TimesSelect
- The original online-subscription program, TimesSelect, was implemented in 2005 in an effort to create a new revenue stream. TimesSelect charged $49.95 a year, or $7.95 a month, for online access to the newspaper's archives. In 2007, paid subscriptions were earning $10 million, but growth projections were low compared to the growth of online advertising. In 2007, The New York Times dropped the paywall to its post-1980 archive. Pre-1980 articles in a pdf format are still behind the paywall, but an abstract of most articles is available for free.
The Atlantic
- Originally online content was only available to print subscribers. This changed in 2008 under the supervision James Bennet, editor-in-chief, in an effort to rebrand the magazine into a multi-platform business.
Johnston Press
Johnston Press
Johnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...
- In November 2009, the UK regional publisher of over 300 titles erected paywalls on six local newspapers' websites, including Carrick Gazette and the Whitby GazetteWhitby GazetteThe Whitby Gazette is an English provincial newspaper published in Whitby, North Yorkshire.It was founded 6 January 1854 by Ralph Horne, a local printer, bookseller, stationer, bookbinder, paperhanger and shipowner, who was also a member of the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society...
. The model was dropped in March 2010 paid subscriber growth during the 4-month period was reportedly in the low double-digits.
Newsday
- The local Long Island newspaper began charging readers for content in October 2009. In January 2010, the publisher reported the website to have only attracted 35 paid subscribers at $5 per month.
Current implementations
In the UK, MoneyWeekMoneyWeek
MoneyWeek is a weekly investment magazine that covers financial and economic news and provides commentary and analysis across UK and global markets...
started using a paywall in 2005. Now 60% of the magazine content stays behind the subscriber paywall for one month. This includes cover stories and in-depth articles. Managing Director Toby Bray says they are keen to emulate the FT.com model which gives access to a certain number of articles per month across the entire site.
The Wall Street Journal was for a time the last major newspaper in the USA to still have its website behind a paywall, until the New York Times reinstituted one on March 28, 2011. The Journal has almost one million paying online readers, which generates about $65 million a year.
Recent extensions include the idea of a "soft" paywall, one that is relatively porous, with the New York Times version noted as "so porous that it can be considered to be a genuinely freemium model." In such cases the difference between a paywall and a Freemium
Freemium
Freemium is a business model that works by offering a product or service free of charge while charging a premium for advanced features, functionality, or related products and services...
model disappears.
- Johnston PressJohnston PressJohnston Press plc is a newspaper publishing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its flagship titles are The Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post; it also operates many other newspapers around the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is the second-largest publisher...
began a paywall trial for six local weekly papers, charging users £5 for three months. Johnston has yet to report on the trial's success. - In the US, the large daily NewsdayNewsdayNewsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
charged $5 a week for access to its website, for which subscribers to parent company Cablevision's Internet access were exempt (Cablevision holds the cable franchise rights to most of Long Island). By mid-January 2010, three months after charging began, just 35 subscribers had signed up. It temporarily removed its paywall in December 2010, only to reinstate it in January 2011. - The Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
charges readers on a "metered" model, under which readers get access to some articles for free, but must pay for more. The system is generally regarded as a success. From April 2010 the FT dropped its metered free access without registering option and now requires all readers to register before they can view articles - free access is still available after registering on a metered monthly basis. - The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
and Sunday Times newspapers started charging to access their websites in June 2010. Users pay £1 for a day's access and £2 for a week's subscription. As of late July 2010, unconfirmed reports have stated that the new website may have only 15,000 direct paying subscribers to date, with another 12,500 paying for access via an iPadIPadThe iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
appApplication softwareApplication software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
. - On 16 November 2010, it was announced that the website of the now-defunct News Of The WorldNews of the WorldThe News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
would be placed behind a paywall. - From September 2011, www.telegraph.co.uk, the website for the Daily Telegraph and Sunday TelegraphSunday TelegraphThe Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately with a different editorial staff, although there is some cross-usage of stories...
will also charge for access. - The New York Times began charging $15 for a four week subscription to its website beginning on 28 March 2011. Users can read up to 20 articles a month for free, after which they will be prompted to subscribe.
- In August 2011, The OnionThe OnionThe Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
’s website began testing a paywall model requiring a $2.95 monthly or $29.95 annual charge from non-U.S. visitors who want to read more than about five stories within 30 days. "We are testing a meter internationally as readers in those markets are already used to paying directly for some (other) content, particularly in the UK where we have many readers," said Onion, Inc. chief technology officer Michael Greer. This new attempt at a paywall comes 6 years after the removal of the ill received Onion Premium paywall which launched in 2004 and was taken down in 2005.
First click free
On December 1, 2009, GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
announced changes to their "first click free" program which is running since 2008 and allows users e.g. of the Wall Street Journal to find and read articles behind a paywall. The reader's first click to the content is free, and the number after that would be set by the content provider. For publishers, this creates an opportunity to opt for paid content without losing much in terms of search. And for Google it allows paid content news sites to be searchable. Google also previously gave blanket access to FT.com articles that were behind the site's paywall through it's News search engine. Google has since introduced a five article daily limit on this method of bypassing FT.com's paywall.
Circumvention
Utilities to circumvent paywalls are available. RefSpoof for Mozilla FirefoxMozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. , Firefox is the second most widely used browser, with approximately 25% of worldwide usage share of web browsers...
spoofs the referrer to Google so that multiple "first click free" links can be performed. BreakthePaywall adds an option to Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
's context menu which uses various methods (referrer and user-agent spoofing, Cookie deletion).