New Hampshire papers prepare to launch metered pay models
Posted by Savita Sauvin on April 5, 2010 at 4:48 PM
As the newspaper industry increasingly embraces various paid online models, newspapers in New Hampshire, United States are following suit, with several planning to roll out a metered payment system for online content soon, NashuaTelegraph.com reported yesterday. The papers include The (Nashua) Telegraph, Concord Monitor, The Portsmouth Herald (Seacoast Online), and The Conway Daily Sun."The news industry's well-publicized financial problems, combined with technological improvements, are tipping the scales in favor of charging for online content - a move that has long been considered risky because of consumer expectations that information on the Internet should be free," the NashuaTelegraph.com article, by Ashley Smith, stated.
The Seacoast Media Group, owned by Dow Jones, plans to launch metered payment access in September or October, said John Tabor, president and publisher of Seacoast Media Group, according to NashuaTelegraph.com.
"After 10 or 15 years of this, we know that you can't support a newsroom with a free online model and digital ads," he said.
The Telegraph metered access model will roll-out in two phases. By mid-April, visitors to the Web site will be required to register after 10 or more page views, and by early June, visitors will be required to subscribe after 30 or more clicks per month, NashuaTelegraph reported. However, some features such as breaking news won't count towared the metered access and will continue to remain free to all. The online subscription pricing is yet to be finalised, but all print subscribers, including those who subscribe to the Sunday edition only for 99 cents per week, will have complete access to the site.
The metered system for access was chosen with an objective to increase Web traffic from casual and unique visitors, as opposed to the paywall that completely restricts access to content on the Web site, said Ernesto Burden, vice president of digital media at Telegraph.
"After 10 or 15 years of this, we know that you can't support a newsroom with a free online model and digital ads," he said.
The Telegraph metered access model will roll-out in two phases. By mid-April, visitors to the Web site will be required to register after 10 or more page views, and by early June, visitors will be required to subscribe after 30 or more clicks per month, NashuaTelegraph reported. However, some features such as breaking news won't count towared the metered access and will continue to remain free to all. The online subscription pricing is yet to be finalised, but all print subscribers, including those who subscribe to the Sunday edition only for 99 cents per week, will have complete access to the site.
The metered system for access was chosen with an objective to increase Web traffic from casual and unique visitors, as opposed to the paywall that completely restricts access to content on the Web site, said Ernesto Burden, vice president of digital media at Telegraph.
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![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfnblog.com%2Ffinancials%2F2010%2F04%2Fnew_hampshire_papers_prepare_to_launch_m.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="6346" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.sfnblog.com/industry_trends/NH%20Changes.png"><img alt="NH Changes.png" src="http://www.sfnblog.com/assets_c/2010/04/NH%20Changes-thumb-260x250-6346.png" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt;" height="250" width="260" /></a></form>As the newspaper industry increasingly embraces various paid online models, newspapers in New Hampshire, United States are following suit, with several planning to roll out a metered payment system for online content soon, <a href="http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/694460-196/changes-coming-for-nh-news-sites.html">NashuaTelegraph.com reported</a> yesterday. The papers include The (Nashua) Telegraph, Concord Monitor, The Portsmouth Herald (Seacoast Online), and The Conway Daily Sun.<br /><br />"The news industry's well-publicized financial problems, combined with technological improvements, are tipping the scales in favor of charging for online content - a move that has long been considered risky because of consumer expectations that information on the Internet should be free," the NashuaTelegraph.com article, by Ashley Smith, stated. &title=New Hampshire papers prepare to launch metered pay models){kind=link}
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