Times’ paywall costs sites two thirds of readers

Since the Times’ introduction of a paywall on the second of July, the number of visitors has decreased by 66%. This is considerably less than what the sites expected. The newspaper’s own forecast was a drop of 90% in the visitor’s rates.

So it seems not to be so bad. However, these figures need to be placed in a context. Five weeks prior to launching the paywall, these sites started requiring visitors to register. Registering was free, but for 58% of the sites’ visitors, this was enough to seek news elsewhere, reveals a study by Experian Hitwise.

Furthermore, the drop may continue as visitors could make use of an introductory offer of paying one pound for 30 days access. After this initial period, the price will increased to a pound a day or two for a week of access. This will likely cause the number of visitors to further decline.

Newspapers worldwide are struggling with getting people to pay for their information. The future of the online section of the Times and the Sunday Times is carefully monitored by papers from all over the globe. The Wall Street Journal recently successfully adopted a similar matter. However, the WSJ delivers specialised content that readers may be more willing to pay for than the more general content delivered by the Times.