The Australian switches on the paywall
The Australia’s paid content adventure has begun. The newspaper’s paywall went live a few minutes ago.
Readers who click on premium content now see the first couple of paragraphs before getting a message inviting them to sign up for a digital pass. For the next three months, the digital pass will be free.
As Mumbrella has previously reported, when The Australian‘s free trial ends, users will be asked to pay between $2.95 per week for digital only access though to $7.95 for digital access along with a six day print subscription.
The Australian’s editor Clive Mathieson discusses the paywall:
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Really weird strategy. $400 bucks a year if you want the full week. But you can get most of it by just taking the paper for almost nothing. How very odd.
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Ted, It’s not weird at all if what you really want is for people to buy the paper. In fact it makes perfect sense.
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Look forward to no revenue! 🙂 lmao
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Tim you gotta sort this set business out, you are about half a metre higher than your subjects and it makes you look like Dorothy in Munchkinland. As for that fabric on the sofa – horrendous.
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I wouldn’t read News Ltd stuff if you paid me.
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Just one more reason to avoid the Australian’s biased journalism.
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@rupert
What i meant was the paper is cheap. It probably needs to be. So all of a sudden the strategy has switched from circulation at any price to what looks like a fairly large price? They dont offer anything extra online, which is even more weird.
I suppose this is all related to a business that loses money. Interesting that the oz and the times are the crash dummies.
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Interesting. For quality balanced news, do people read the Australian and take it seriously?
So many sources out there for free news where companies are making good money..?
Be interesting to see how they go?
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Hi Femme Fatale,
You’re right – the angle on this video was particularly horrendous for the height difference. We’re working on it.
But I have to respectfully disagree with you about the colour scheme. I love that sofa…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
like the sofa.
But that painting/print jars
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Its a silly idea.Who really reads the Australian anyway. But if you are that 1 person that does read lots of Australian Stories and you are against paying here is what you do:
1) get Google Chrome
2) Open Chrome in Incognito mode
3) Goto the Australian website and find the paywalled story you are interested in
4) Highlight the title of the story and search it on google (right click and there is a search option)
5) Click the News tab and find the story. It will show in full.
6) repeat the steps 4 and 5 for as many stories as needed until you hit the daily limit. 7) Once you hit the daily limit, close the Incognito mode browser and go back to step 2 and start again.
Enjoy!
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Got all the brochures for my free 6 day pass. Nothing to tell me how to activate on my iPad and no response to quiries? This is run by …. it’s not intuitive enough.
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I don’t mind paying – no free lunches. But News Ltd needs to be upfront and totally transparent about how they use and with whom they share people’s reading choices and private information. No blanket clauses here. If they have your credit card # they have your identity.
Better – sell pre-paid “The Australian” cards people can buy and use to log in, and still maintain the privacy of their news reading. That way they’ll be seen to respect people’s preference to NOT have their reading choices analysed and shared with strangers.
Let me repeat that word: RESPECT.
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