Newspapers to charge for Online Access to Information

[Stefan]

RGJ launches full-access subscription plan | Reno Gazette-Journal | rgj.com



Is your local newspaper charging for Online access?

This is scary because Reno is one of the testing markets for Gannett ( USAToday). What if this turns out to be successful? Who will be next? Yahoo? Google?

How will this affect us, the advertisers?

 

[DealerMarketing]

IMO.. it will not work.

 

[joeyabna]

The small local paper in Tyler Texas is now charging for content too. The papers are trying everything they can to monetize to make up for shrinking print distribution and print ad revenue. I can find just about anything that is in the paper for free online somewhere. It may work for the Washington Post or New York Times but I see the practice as putting most local papers defection rates in warp drive.

 

[Billfred]

The paper here launched something to that effect, but with free access for X articles per month and exceptions for things like breaking news.

Somehow (knock on wood), I've never managed to run up against that limit.

 

[Alex Snyder]

The New York Times and Economist has been doing the model Billfred described for a while. I have found it to be enough content to keep me reading those publications. Sometimes I will give them a little money for a single issue. I have never wanted to subscribe to either, so they're actually making some money off of me this way.

On the other hand, the Drudge Report is a daily part of my morning routine. Drudge is simply a conglomeration of a bunch of different news channels where they've selected their top picks for stories. Occasionally, one of the stories will be linked to one of the services that only allows paid subscribers to view the content. I just bounce with something a little stronger than "screw you" muttered under my breath.

That's just me though....