An experimental pay wall for online news content has been launched by the Montreal Gazette and Victoria Times Colonist as parent company Postmedia Network Canada Corp. tests a new subscription-based model.
Starting June 1, Times Colonist readers will be able to view up to 20 articles per month, and after that must pay a fee. Monthly subscriptions cost $9.95 for non-subscribers, and subscribers to the print edition must pay $2.95 for full online access.
The Montreal Gazette will charge $6.95 per month for full online access, while subscribers to the print edition have unlimited access for free.
“After careful consideration, we have decided this is an important step to continue to invest in providing authoritative, local coverage to our readers,” wrote Times Colonist publisher Bob Mackenzie in an announcement to readers.
However, many readers are not happy. By May 29 the announcement had drawn 147 comments on the Times Colonist website—99 percent of them opposed to the idea.
“I won’t be paying, that’s for sure,” posted an anonymous online reader on May 26. “I'll be going to CBC or other online news.... Lots of other ways to get the news from my home town. Bye T.C. You guys just shot yourselves in the foot.”
A reaction to the announcement in the Montreal Gazette had one reader post a faux obituary in the comments section.
“It is with sadness that we report the sudden and unexpected passing of the online version of the Montreal Gazette. It would appear that her owners failed to recognize the contagion in this industry. Readers have access to free print and online news in so much abundance that they could gorge themselves elsewhere. RIP.”
Mary McGuire, a professor of journalism at Carleton University, said if newspapers hope to introduce pay metering, they must have content that can’t be found elsewhere, otherwise readers will seek out a free alternative.
“They’re just not going to pay for something that they have always perceived as freely available in many places online,” she said in an interview.
When she asks her students if they would ever pay for online news, the answer is “universally ‘No,’” Mcguire said.
This reaction is not surprising considering a recent University of British Columbia study that found 81 percent of Canadians polled said they would not pay for news online, and 90 percent indicated they would find free alternatives if their preferred news websites started charging for content.
Limited Success
The pay wall model and pay metering have shown limited success around the world. First introduced by major publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, most online charging systems have gone through various incarnations before being dropped.
When The New York Times introduced a pay wall system in late March, total page views on their website declined by 11-30 percent and overall visits decreased by up to 15 percent in the first 12 days, reported Experian Hitwise, an online research firm. They have since introduced a new pay metering system and have reported more “encouraging” results.
Ambarish Chandra, assistant professor at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, says readers eventually accepted paying for the New York Times when they realized the quality would suffer if they didn’t.
“They are starting to see that there is a choice between paying a little or seeing their favourite newspaper become even more watered down,” he said.
In Canada, The Globe and Mail tested the pay wall in 2007, but abandoned it by 2008, struggling to find the balance between new subscriber revenue and effects of lost readership for its loyal advertisers.
The Wall Street Journal is a notable exception, however, with a continued increase in overall circulation and ad sales despite its pay wall introduction.
McGuire said it hasn’t been easy for print newspapers to find a successful model online, but a solution must be found to ensure quality journalism is supported.
“There’s great opportunity for imaginative minds to figure out ways to raise revenues through the presentation of news, but no one model has become the answer to solve all the problems yet,” she said.
“That’s the dilemma—how do you raise funds and how do you fund journalism in this environment, when people won’t pay to view stuff online.”
Chandra says adopting pay walls is a feasible business plan for newspapers, and will likely become more accepted as readers realize quality journalism requires quality compensation.
“I am sure that the first few newspapers to try this will get burned—badly. But eventually a few will succeed. Those that do will be the ones that we will still be reading 20 years from now,” he said.
“We are in the early stages of media learning about this option.”
McGuire said she is seeing aspiring journalists in her classes becoming concerned about making a living in the industry after they graduate.
“It’s so hard. I think that is the big question mark, and they worry a lot: ‘Can I make a living? Can I pay the rent in this field?’”
“Right now we’re in this time of great flux in the industry and there is absolutely a need to find ways to fund good solid journalism.”
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