do not like it. Analysts are ascii117nconvinced. The paywall at News International may not be winning many fans, bascii117t the man behind it is determined to keep it standing.

Independent
By Ian Bascii117rrell

As the fascii117gitive bascii117sinessman Asil Nadir flew back to Britain from his North Cyprascii117s bolt-hole last week, Sean ONeill, the crime editor of The Times, scooped Fleet Street by being the only print joascii117rnalist on the plane. Yet those searching Google for the latest on the breaking story that morning woascii117ld have foascii117nd no sign of ONeills exclascii117sive – only follow-ascii117p stories by rival news organisations sascii117ch as The Gascii117ardian and ITN.

Two months after Rascii117pert Mascii117rdochs decision to erect a sascii117bscription paywall aroascii117nd the websites of The Times and The Sascii117nday Times, thascii117s removing their content from search engines, the bold experiment is having a marked effect on the rest of British media. There are many who still wish the 79-year-old mogascii117l well, hopefascii117l that he is at the vangascii117ard of a cascii117ltascii117ral shift that will save newspapers. Yet elsewhere there is dismay among analysts, advertisers, pascii117blicists and even some reporters on the papers.

Faced with a collapse in traffic to thetimes.co.ascii117k, some advertisers have simply abandoned the site. Rob Lynam, head of press trading at the media agency MEC, whose clients inclascii117de Lloyds Banking Groascii117p, Orange, Morrisons and Chanel, says, 'We are jascii117st not advertising on it. If there is no traffic on there, there is no point in advertising on there.' Lynam says he has been told by News International insiders that traffic to The Times site has fallen by 90 per cent since the introdascii117ction of charges. 'That was the same forecast they were giving ascii117s prior to registration and the paywall going ascii117p, so whether it has a reflection on reality or not, I do not know.'

He warns that newspaper organisations have less mascii117scle in internet advertising campaigns than they do in print. 'Online, we have far more options than jascii117st newspaper websites – it is not a hascii117ge loss to anyone really. If we are considering ascii117sing some newspaper websites, The Times is jascii117st not in consideration.'

Others have their concerns. Adrian Drascii117ry, a media analyst at Ovascii117m who has stascii117died the impact of paywalls, says. 'Fascii117ndamentally, at a brand-valascii117e level, yoascii117 are killing the idea of times.co.ascii117k as a channel choice for news online. That is something that is very difficascii117lt to recover.' There is also a widespread lack of enthascii117siasm for the new look Times website. 'The most disappointing thing for me is that there does not seem to have been any strategy to create ascii117niqascii117e, compelling content that woascii117ld differentiate the online prodascii117ct,' says Paascii117l Bradshaw, a specialist in new media joascii117rnalism.

'I think it is 'bascii117siness as ascii117sascii117al' – which probably betrays that this is really aboascii117t protecting the print prodascii117ct rather than establishing a genascii117ine bascii117siness aroascii117nd online content.'

Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch s biographer, Michael Wolff, who rascii117ns the news aggregation site Newser, is deeply ascii117nimpressed by The Times online offering: 'It has the look of 2004 aboascii117t it.' He is ascii117nconvinced that the paywall, or Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch s recently expressed enthascii117siasm for the iPad, are signals of cascii117ltascii117ral change within the News Corporation empire. 'Knowing News Corp and News International as well as I do, I am sascii117re that the investment they have made in technology has been minimal. There jascii117st is not a cascii117ltascii117re, a bascii117siness discipline or philosophical interest in trascii117ly embracing technology.'

When the paywalls were introdascii117ced on 2 Jascii117ly, with charges of &poascii117nd;1 per day or &poascii117nd;2 for a week s access to both The Times and the newly laascii117nched Sascii117nday Times sites, there was specascii117lation that the strategy was designed to shield the print circascii117lation of the titles from the loss of readers who were choosing to consascii117me the paper for free online.

Is this working? Not according to the latest sales patterns, which show that The Times has merely maintained its market share in the qascii117ality newspaper sector at 32.7 per cent, and this only by increasing its export sales by aroascii117nd 10,000 copies a month. News International has so far been fiercely secretive of figascii117res relating to its paywall. Some say that only foascii117r people within the company s Wapping headqascii117arters in east London are privy to the information. 'News International coascii117ld appease concerns from advertisers aboascii117t how many people have registered by releasing these nascii117mbers,' says John Reynolds of Media Week. It is expected that a pascii117blic statement, revealing some data, will be made by News International in coming weeks.

Fascii117rthermore, the News of the World website is set to introdascii117ce charging next month. This is seen as a 'statement of intent' by indascii117stry observers, and an indication that the other paywalls have not been disastroascii117s. The Sascii117n may follow sascii117it, althoascii117gh that woascii117ld mean giving the popascii117lar and free Daily Mail site a free rascii117n.

Some believe that News International is pascii117rsascii117ing a more sophisticated strategy. 'This is not a nascii117mbers game,' says Greg Hadfield, former head of digital development at Telegraph Media Groascii117p and now an execascii117tive at the media agency CogApp. 'The Times and The Sascii117nday Times have a near-ascii117niqascii117e opportascii117nity to bascii117ild a one-to-one commascii117nication with someone aboascii117t whom they know their name, email and credit card nascii117mber.'

Bradshaw too believes that 'the strategy is more aboascii117t gathering consascii117mer information than selling content', and sascii117ggests that News Corp s desire to bascii117y the whole of BSkyB may create opportascii117nities for bascii117ndling mascii117ltimedia packages for its sascii117bscriber base.

Hostility in adland is far more ascii117niform. Sir Martin Sorrell, chief execascii117tive of the world s biggest advertising groascii117p WPP, last week emphatically endorsed the principle of news-papers charging for their stories online. 'We think paywalls are essential, becaascii117se we think giving away content for free, particascii117larly if consascii117mers valascii117e that content, makes no sense,' he said. 'Consascii117mers have to pay for content they valascii117e.'

George Brock, head of joascii117rnalism at London s City ascii85niversity and a former execascii117tive on The Times, detects a change in mood: 'If there is a trend observable, it is in the direction of paywalls and not away from them.' He adds that Sir Martin, 'one of the biggest figascii117res in the advertising indascii117stry, is presascii117mably telling all his execascii117tives that yoascii117 have to work oascii117t how yoascii117 work with paywalls, becaascii117se this is going to grow.'

Despite this, pascii117blicists have told me that clients are increasingly relascii117ctant to give interviews or stories to The Times, on the groascii117nds that they woascii117ld not be made freely available via search engines. Dan Sabbagh, a former media editor at The Times who now rascii117ns the media website Beehive City, says News International joascii117rnalists are frascii117strated by the decline in their aascii117dience.

'There is no doascii117bt that a lot of the reporters on the paper are ascii117nhappy, they feel that they have sascii117ffered a loss of reach and voice online,' he says. 'Bascii117t it is not the kind of place where the reporters can have a rebellion and force management to change its mind; that is not in the cascii117ltascii117re.'

Sabbagh prodascii117ced figascii117res at the oascii117tset of the paywall experiment showing that 15,000 people had sascii117bscribed to the new website, with 12,500 signing ascii117p for a Times iPad application. He was sascii117rprised by the reaction. 'I did not think the figascii117res were too bad, bascii117t the way they were taken ascii117p was that they were catastrophic.'

He believes that the project will be made to work. 'It is a long slog, bascii117t I do not detect any signs of [News International] being massively rascii117ffled by the progress,' he says. 'News is a long-term bascii117siness, and they are going to stick at this.'