How are newspapers stacking up- digitally?

A Rockwellian view of reading the newspaper may include a cup of coffee, recliner and a smoking pipe on Sunday mornings. In the digital age, people consume news quite differently. The new American norm is driving people to the instant and customizable Internet.

This digression is and has been invoking a transformation for newspapers. It has been providing free news content online for years, but many of the larger publications are flipping to the paywall strategy. The term “metered paywall” refers to websites that will have users pay a fee to read all of the content available on      the page.

Newspapers, like The New York Times, are strategically using the metered paywall to not only increase online revenue, but print subscriptions by offering a lower price than online; in turn, this is also increasing ad revenue.

According to Advertising Age, the Audit Bureau of Circulations’ statistics show that newspapers have successfully used this strategy to counter diminishing paid-print subscribers. The New York Times has proved this strategy profitable by seeing the largest digital gain among the reported papers. Its weekday circulation increased by 73% since before the online pay meter was implemented.

The Wall Street Journal still holds the rank of largest newspaper across both print and digital platforms, while USA Today claims largest newspaper in print alone with a circulation of 1.7 million.

Metered paywalls have been met with some resistance from readers. However, the more it is being adopted by news sources, paywalls are creating revenue streams. One stream is the actual payment for online content, while the other is people returning to traditional sources for news. Either way, it is beneficial to newspapers.

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