Canada’s Globe and Mail moves forward plan for paywall, says ad market unpredictable
by @gordonmacmillan, posted on 11 May, 2012
Globe and Mail to implement online paywall
The Globe and Mail to introduce metered paywall this fall
#paywall @globeandmail
Canadian national newspaper The Globe and Mail is to follow The New York Times and others and begin charging its readers for content. The paper is to implement a metered paywall system although it has yet to announce how much it will charge or how many articles it will give readers for free.
It said the it was moving its plans forward for the paywall in response “to an unpredictable advertising market”, which that has seen both print and digital sales drop this spring at publishers in both North America and Europe.
by @gordonmacmillan, posted on 11 May, 2012
Globe and Mail to implement online paywall
The Globe and Mail to introduce metered paywall this fall
#paywall @globeandmail
Canadian national newspaper The Globe and Mail is to follow The New York Times and others and begin charging its readers for content. The paper is to implement a metered paywall system although it has yet to announce how much it will charge or how many articles it will give readers for free.
It said the it was moving its plans forward for the paywall in response “to an unpredictable advertising market”, which that has seen both print and digital sales drop this spring at publishers in both North America and Europe.
However, if it is following The New York Times model, or that implemented earlier by the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal, then the limit on the number of free articles is likely to be somewhere between 10 and 20
In March The New York Times announced it was cutting the number of free articles it gave away to readers online from 20 to 10, but emphasised that the site will still remain open to social media when it comes to sharing.
Like the NY Times, The Globe and Mail will remain open to social media allowing its articles to be widely shared.
The metered paywall is by far the most common approach to charging user for content and those that have gone down this route appear to be having some success.
Last month The New York Times gave an update on the number of paid subscribers it has signed up to various digital subscription packages and said they new stood at approximately 454,000.
Earlier this week Tim Brooks, the former managing director of the Guardian called The Times paywall a failure. He predicted that the paper, the only one not to have a metered paywall, will evolve into freemium model.
The Times has seen its brand sink from sight on social media sites as its content can not be viewed, not even excerpts, by non-subscribers making little point in tweeting links.
Globe and Mail publisher and CEO Phillip Crawley told an all-staff meeting last night that the paper had planned to implement a metered system for Report on Business content this autumn, but it has accelerated its plans to put all of the group’s content behind a paywall in response “to an unpredictable advertising market”, which that has seen both print and digital sales drop this spring at publishers in both North America and Europe.
Like the NY Times, The Globe and Mail will remain open to social media allowing its articles to be widely shared.
The metered paywall is by far the most common approach to charging user for content and those that have gone down this route appear to be having some success.
Last month The New York Times gave an update on the number of paid subscribers it has signed up to various digital subscription packages and said they new stood at approximately 454,000.
Earlier this week Tim Brooks, the former managing director of the Guardian called The Times paywall a failure. He predicted that the paper, the only one not to have a metered paywall, will evolve into freemium model.
The Times has seen its brand sink from sight on social media sites as its content can not be viewed, not even excerpts, by non-subscribers making little point in tweeting links.
Globe and Mail publisher and CEO Phillip Crawley told an all-staff meeting last night that the paper had planned to implement a metered system for Report on Business content this autumn, but it has accelerated its plans to put all of the group’s content behind a paywall in response “to an unpredictable advertising market”, which that has seen both print and digital sales drop this spring at publishers in both North America and Europe.
Crawley also pointed to other Canadian newspapers that had implemented paywalls including the Postmedia Network owned dailies in Montreal and Victoria as well as planning for others such as the Ottawa Citizen, Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province.The paper is also asking staff to take unpaid leaves this summer in an attempt to reduce costs. Although Crawley said the Globe and Mail was not talking about “permanent layoffs”.John Stackhouse, editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail, said: “We’re adopting a metered approach, which means our readers will be able to access a certain number of articles across our website each month before they’re asked to pay. Similar leading news organizations, such as The New York Times and The Financial Times, already do this. We will let you know how many articles will be free at a later date, but most readers will not run into the limit on the meter. ”
