Wednesday 22 February 2012

Newsquest US parent Gannett to put up paywalls


Newsquest's US parent company, Gannett, is planning to introduce paywalls on all of its 80 local newspapers by the end of the year, Forbes magazine reports.

Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the US, made the announcement during an investor day held in New York. The only Gannett newspaper that will not have a paywall is its national title USA Today.

“We will begin to restrict some access to non-subscribers,” said Bob Dickey, president of community publishing.

According to Forbes, the model is similar to the metered system adopted by the New York Times a year ago, in which online readers are able to view a limited number of pages for free each month. That quota will be between five and 15 articles, depending on the paper, said Dickey. Six Gannett papers already have a digital pay regimen in place.

Gannett projects its new paid content initiative will contribute to a 25% increase in annual subscription revenues companywide. That in turn will swell earnings by $100 million per year.

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