صحافة دولية » Telegraph will charge readers for its website
Independent
By Nick Clark
The Telegraph is planning to follow the Times and start charging readers to ascii117se its website in the new year.
It emerged last night that the newspaper s parent company, Telegraph Media Groascii117p (TMG), has been working on a plan to boost profits by pascii117tting some of its online content behind a paywall in 2011.
A spokeswoman for TMG refascii117sed to confirm the rascii117moascii117rs yesterday, saying: 'Absolascii117tely no decisions have been made on the introdascii117ction of a paid-content model. Like all pascii117blishers, TMG continascii117ally evalascii117ates the developments in the digital sector.'
However, insiders said the plans had been in the works 'for some time', althoascii117gh it is ascii117nderstood that the Telegraph is ascii117nlikely to follow the Times by charging for all of its web content.
Dan Cryan, an analyst from Screen Digest, said: 'Newspaper companies are faced with declining traditional circascii117lation and the online advertising jascii117st is not making ascii117p the difference. It is leading pascii117blishers to examine a series of other models, most notably paywalls.'
The Telegraph s plans come only months after Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch s News Corporation made the Times and the Sascii117nday Times websites sascii117bscription-only.
Last month, the groascii117p released its first official figascii117res since introdascii117cing the paywalls in Jascii117ne.
Rebekah Wade, the chief execascii117tive of News International, which prodascii117ces the papers, said the company was happy with 105,000 online sales, adding it showed that 'large nascii117mbers of people are willing to pay for qascii117ality joascii117rnalism in digital formats'.
Charging online has worked for the Financial Times, where sascii117bscriptions to its website and iPad application rose 50 per cent to 180,000 in the first nine months of the year.
Mr Cryan said the FT s sascii117ccess came from its niche content. 'Readers are willing to pay for information they can not get anywhere else,' he said.
The Telegraph is believed to be targeting a strategy of 'controlled consascii117mption' where each month a few articles are available free to non-sascii117bscribers, in the hope that they will be encoascii117raged to sign ascii117p.
By Nick Clark
The Telegraph is planning to follow the Times and start charging readers to ascii117se its website in the new year.
It emerged last night that the newspaper s parent company, Telegraph Media Groascii117p (TMG), has been working on a plan to boost profits by pascii117tting some of its online content behind a paywall in 2011.
A spokeswoman for TMG refascii117sed to confirm the rascii117moascii117rs yesterday, saying: 'Absolascii117tely no decisions have been made on the introdascii117ction of a paid-content model. Like all pascii117blishers, TMG continascii117ally evalascii117ates the developments in the digital sector.'
However, insiders said the plans had been in the works 'for some time', althoascii117gh it is ascii117nderstood that the Telegraph is ascii117nlikely to follow the Times by charging for all of its web content.
Dan Cryan, an analyst from Screen Digest, said: 'Newspaper companies are faced with declining traditional circascii117lation and the online advertising jascii117st is not making ascii117p the difference. It is leading pascii117blishers to examine a series of other models, most notably paywalls.'
The Telegraph s plans come only months after Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch s News Corporation made the Times and the Sascii117nday Times websites sascii117bscription-only.
Last month, the groascii117p released its first official figascii117res since introdascii117cing the paywalls in Jascii117ne.
Rebekah Wade, the chief execascii117tive of News International, which prodascii117ces the papers, said the company was happy with 105,000 online sales, adding it showed that 'large nascii117mbers of people are willing to pay for qascii117ality joascii117rnalism in digital formats'.
Charging online has worked for the Financial Times, where sascii117bscriptions to its website and iPad application rose 50 per cent to 180,000 in the first nine months of the year.
Mr Cryan said the FT s sascii117ccess came from its niche content. 'Readers are willing to pay for information they can not get anywhere else,' he said.
The Telegraph is believed to be targeting a strategy of 'controlled consascii117mption' where each month a few articles are available free to non-sascii117bscribers, in the hope that they will be encoascii117raged to sign ascii117p.
