Why most news paywalls are full of holes

Ariel StulbergNYPA 2019

The “golden age of paywalls”

The “golden age of paywalls”

-The Drum, May 2018

-WSJ, Nov 2017

- NYMag, Nov 2018

-Digiday, April 2018

The “golden age of paywalls”

Are paywalls “the answer?”

I will argue:

-Paywalls work best under atypical circumstances

-Paywalls require service sacrifices

-Free news isn’t going away

What to expect:

--Paywall theory

--History and taxonomy of paywalls

--Our paywall moment

What is a paywall?

=?

What is a paywall?

Sub - scribe

(Under) (write)

Partly true

--Reliable revenue

--Direct relationship to readers

--Freedom from the traffic gods

What is a paywall?

Newspaper

What is a paywall?

Digital content

What is a paywall?

What is a paywall?

--Digital rights management (DRM)

A paywall is piece of software that breaks your website, allowing you to charge users to make it work again

The problem with paywalls

--Annoying!

The problem with paywalls

--Annoying!

--Reduce readership

The problem with paywalls

--Annoying!

--Reduce readership

--Contravene service mission

The problem with paywalls

“Why drop a paywall?” Ananny and Bighash, USC, 2016

--Emergencies

--Planned public events (e.g. elections, the Olympia)

--”Coverage considered too civically valuable to commodify financially”

History of paywalls

--Launched 1996

--Paying customers only

--The “hard” model

History of paywalls

--Annoying?

--Reduce readership?

--Contravene service mission?

NO PROBLEM

History of paywalls

The “hard” model

--Expert readers...

--in well-compensated fields

History of paywalls

-May 2009, TheGuardian.com

History of paywalls

--Launched 2011l

--20 free articles

--Unlimited “side door” exceptions

--”Soft” / “leaky” “porous” mode

History of paywalls

--Annoying?

--Reduce readership

--Contravene editorial mission?

Let’s keep it to a minimum

History of paywalls

The meter

History of paywallsPaywall exceptions, aka “side doors”

--Social media

--Search (i.e. First Click Free)

--”Cookie” manipulation

History of paywalls

“It’s a misconception that we’ve imposed an absolute limit and any time anyone gets around that limit it’s a violation of policy,”

--Kinsey Wilson, NYT

History of paywalls

The “soft” / “leaky” / “porous” model

--Annoy fewer people

--Turn fewer people away

--Collect data

--Monetize goodwill

History of paywalls

“I think there are similarities [to public media]. A subscription to The New York Times is rarely a purely transactional decision.”

--Kinsey Wilson, NYT

“Do we play on the ‘Give us a donation’ stuff? No.”

--Karl Wells, WSJ

Our paywall moment

What changed?

--Reliable online payments

--Wider adoption of web subscriptions

Our paywall moment

--The “Trump Bump”

--”Support journalism”

Our paywall moment

The “dynamic” paywall

--Data driven

--Annoy the right people

Our paywall moment

Paywall aggregators

--Apple News+

--Medium

Our paywall moment

The “membership” model

--No paywall

--Appeal to goodwill

--Advertising optional

Are paywalls “the answer?”

-Paywalls work best under atypical circumstances

-Paywalls contravene service missions

-”Free” news isn’t going away

Thank you for coming!

Comments or questions?