Yesterday, The Economist’s plans to raise its online paywall were reported here and elsewhere. Today, the publication has formally told its readers. The following was emailed out this morning.
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Tag The Economist
The Economist confirms to readers new online charging plans
Economist to build website paywall higher for archive content
The Economist is to expand its archive pay wall from Tuesday 13 October to all content more than 90 days old from the existing one year barrier. Online readers will continue to be able to access the last three months and the latest issue for free, as well as blogs, audio-visual and other sections of the site.
The Economist online is to expand paid subscription only access
The Economist has been somewhat insulated from the woes affecting other traditional news publications, with the various versions of the “weekly newspaper” delivering a combined net circulation per issue of 1.4 million copies and claims four million readers globally.
Ben Edwards, publisher of The Economist’s website, was quoted by Media Week as saying the brand online had expanded beyond the print issue to become “a hub for intelligent discussion and debate”.
He added: “Our intention is to continue to develop intelligent discussion as a free, advertising-supported experience, but to charge for the weekly magazine online.”
It can be argued that The Economist is in a better position than most when it comes to charging for its online content. It’s model is unlikely to signal much hope for newspapers wracked with declining print subscriptions and display sales. It is not their archives that will deliver the revenues needed, but the breaking news and most current content.
Possibly part of the argument here is that The Economist is doing this simply because it can. It’s coming from a position of strength and is seeking to exploit that. Yes, its display revenues are down massively, but its print versions been riding a wave of success and it has grown its reach into the social media sphere massively. Not bad for a high brow rag.
The recent Top 25 Digital Influencers in News & Politics report from digital marketing consultancy Sparxoo placed The Economist at number 19:
Just ahead of Newsweek, The Economist is surprisingly competitive in the social category. The Economist does very well on Facebook (placing sixth) and breaks into the top 10 most backlinked sites. In fact, the Economist has more fans than CNN, MSNBC, the BBC and the Huffington Post combined, with 158k.
Is this offering a golden key to a brighter publishing future? Economist editor John Micklethwait believes so:
Yes, The Economist display revenues have slumped, but these have been countered by growth in print subscription revenues and a savvy approach to social media and the web.
