New York Times pay wall
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NY Times charges for online content
The New York Times has announced a hybrid pay wall system for its website. It plans to offer a monthly smartphone app plan for $15, a monthly tablet app plan for $20, and a monthly all-digital access plan for $35. Casual visitors to the website can view up to 20 pieces of content per month for free, while people who click on referral links to the website from blogs and social media tool can still view them without charge. A pair of SFU communication professors can provide commentary on whether this new business plan will work for the newspaper.
“How will this affect the news industry? The New York Times is in a category of its own, in a way, so it won't immediately spill over to all other newspapers, but it is still a newspaper and I think other newspapers will be watching carefully,” says SFU’s Richard Smith. “They are – for now – keeping linked content free, so in some ways many people won't notice or be affected, since they get to the New York Times by being referred.”
Smith’s colleague, SFU communication associate professor Peter Chow-White, adds: “This is less about paying for content and more about how one accesses the content. The New York Times wants to charge people for being the direct portal to its content, such as on its iPhone or iPad app. But one can still access the content for free if it is indirect, such as through a tweeted link from someone. More and more people are accessing content in this indirect manner.”
Richard Smith, 778.782.2011; smith@sfu.ca
Peter Chow-White, 778.782.7289; petercw@sfu.ca