A glimpse behind the New York Times paywall

Posted by Martin Stabe on 6 November 2006 at 07:00
Tags: Journalism, New York Times

The New York Times is offering free access to TimesSelect, the paid-for section of its web site, for a week beginning today.

This means everyone will be able to read all of the New York Times columnists who have been hidden away from the non-paying public. Today, for example, you’ll be able to read Thomas Friedman, who has said that he hates having his work behind the pay barrier.

TimesSelect membership is based on annual memberships, and since the service was launched just over a year ago, the paper must now be pushing hard to boost the renewal numbers and gain new memberships. The renewal rate will be watched carefully by those interested in whether paid-for content works for  newspapers’ web sites.
The New York Times says TimesSelect has more than 551,000 subscribers —  65 percent receive TimesSelect as part of their home-delivery subscriptions and 35 per cent having bought online-only subscriptions.

Tags: Journalism, New York Times