News Limited confirms move to metered paywall
News Limited has this morning confirmed the Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun will move to a metered paywall beginning from next Thursday.
The announcement comes less than a month after Mumbrella revealed the move away from the “freemium” model to a two stage metered model.
Readers will be given five free articles a week before being required to register, then an additional 10 per week at the Herald Sun and 15 per week at The Daily Telegraph.
As previous reports suggested, the new digital subscriber strategy is to be called News Plus and will see be introduced at Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun in May, before being extended to AdelaideNow and The Courier Mail in June.
“Our new digital subscription service for the Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph with the exciting addition of news+ marks an important landmark for News Limited as we continue paving the way for commercially sustainable models for quality journalism and digital innovation in Australia,” said News Limited CEO Kim Williams.
As part of the launch the company says it will offer integrated content from Fox Sports as well as enhanced online local coverage across each state masthead.
“For the first time, we will see an integration of high-quality FOX SPORTS broadcast reporting, analysis and commentary across News’ online network giving our masthead subscribers access to fine content as part of the news+ product,” he said.
“We will continually enhance the value of our digital subscription product – over time we will also integrate our online lifestyle and business content offerings within the mastheads and their news+environment. Other additional subscriber benefits will be launched progressively.”
Under the new metered model customers will be charged $1 for the first 28 days and then $4.00 a week.
News Limited also announced it would refresh its online and mobile websites ahead of the move. “The refreshed sites follow from extensive customer research and user testing. The new designs reflect what our customers tell us they want – they are faster, offer easier and more intuitive navigation, have up to 20% more homepage content than the sites they replace with better presentation and auto-adjustments tailored for a wide range of different digital devices,” said Williams.
The company would not comment on what impact the news+ metered shift would have on The Australian’s “freemium” paywall. However, News Limited sources have previously told Mumbrella that the national broadsheet would move to a metered model in the new financial year.
Nic Christensen
At least the announcement makes no mention of a single platform – ie iPad.
Bet Fairfax regrets betting the farm on that particular turkey.
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I have been searching for the “quality journalism” in the Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph for many years now. When I find it then I will subscribe to online editions. In the meantime a free hard copy courtesy of the local cafe which can be read in the time it takes to have a coffee will do me.
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I’ve been getting past the paywall and accessing articles for ages now in HS and DT. Works every time.
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Who was it that said about paywalls, “People, your 10 year free trail is over!!!!!”?
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Cue the predictable responses which will involve:
1. Saying that you’ll never pay for online media (and/or delightedly saying that you are able to circumvent paywalls)
2. Complaining that the quality of media is continually deteriorating.
These points are directly related, but don’t let that stop you.
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Good to see the paywalls rolling out.
This model might eventually lead to a profitable publication/s, but if it does the operation will surely be a lot smaller than it is at present.
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on the money Mike …out trot the usual posts
Harry, no doubt you’re a Guardian or Times reader…knock yourself out, News Limited have the best news/sports/entertainment coverage in Australia housed in your state website, as for op/ed, if you don’t like don’t read it.
not a lot in the world of media that is worthwhile is free…either you get served ads or you subscribe or you get both…bit like the old newspaper model really
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Integration with Fox Sports hey…. so why would I pay to view their articles via the daily telegraph site when i can just jump over to fox sports and get it for free?
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Damn! I’ll be forced to buy a newspaper again….
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behold the pale horse
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Why do they think people will pay for stale news?. Both News Ltd and Fairfax re-cycle stuff from around the web, often 2/3 days later and seem to think we won;t notice.
If they were engaging in legitimate investigations they may have support but expecting subscribers to stump up for cold potatoes is an arogance.
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I can’t see the point in paying for news when http://www.abc.net.au/news exists…
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@Stephen And why buy water when there are so many taps around.
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This will undoubtedly fail miserably.
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I’m sure I’m not the only person wondering why you would pay for News Ltd’s online content when you can get it for free from Reddit, which, coincidentally, is where they get it from for free too.
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Why can News Ltd not provide a cash payment option for their subscriptions?
They can, but they won’t.
Many people do not want their news reading tracked, analysed and shared with strangers. We’re happy to pay for the content, but just as we wouldn’t tolerate a stranger reading over our shoulder in our homes, we won’t tolerate News Ltd snooping on our reading preferences.
It’s too easy – an iTunes style card you can buy for cash at retail level.
What’s your problem, News Ltd? Isn’t it time to poke your heads out of the citadel and respond to consumer wishes?
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@Mumbs you don’t get fox sports for free? You pay for it. It’s called a ‘foxtel subscription’
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