SHUBHAM PARSEKAR PGDM2/1539 DATE: - 05-01-2016

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THE NEWYORK TIMES PAYWALL - CASE

Case synopsis

The case revolves around the issue of Metered Paywall System adopted by The New

York Times that allowed up to Twenty free articles per month and if extra articles

required, they need to pay Subscription fees. Since there was a change in trend from

Traditional newspaper to Digital, revenues from Online advertising were not

sufficient to replace the loss of print revenue. Many newspaper and content creators

were in dilemma of switching to the paywall system would be successful and can it

sustain for long time. The Times had to make a decision whether they should go

with the “leaky” paywall or a “bulletproof” paywall model.

Product strategy

1. Number of Free Articles

The limit of Twenty free articles for users who surfed on The Times content is very

much accepted as from the case study it is derived that the vast traffic on the website

is made by casual users rather than paid subscribers and since in the initial year of

entering into online platform of newspaper it is very much essential to rope in as

much as subscriber base as possible.

2. Pricing

As per (Exhibit 11) , which shows us that $450 charged by The New York Times is

almost double than The Wall Street Journal charges. Therefor the company should

consider changes to be made in the pricing model for subscription as well as for the

advertisement to be place into the e-paper.

3. Leaky or Bullet proof paywall is good?

For initial days, i.e. The New York Times should go with the Leaky paywall model

as they need more subscribers to increase their awareness and generate more traffic

to their sites from various platforms like Facebook, twitter, linked-in, etc. and since

it’s a e-newspaper which is largely preferred by youths over the traditional

newspaper, so they should go with the Leaky paywall model.

SHUBHAM PARSEKAR PGDM2/1539 DATE: - 05-01-2016

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4. Is online Newspaper or print newspaper complement or substitute?

Online newspaper is and will become a substitute to traditional newspaper as today

is the trend of Technology and on the go lifestyle, so e-newspaper will very easily fit

into these culture and it will match the requirements of the young and working class

people, who would like to read news while travelling and in their busy schedule.

CONCLUSION

They should adopt a mix model, i.e. continue with the traditional as well as opt for e

newspaper with a Leaky paywall model as this will lead to some problems with

revenue generation initially but certain efforts need to be made to generate revenue,

like attracting young readers to enrol for the e-newspaper and organize a online quiz

state level or national level which will generate a word of mouth among the students

and colleges, which will be very much helpful for the “The Times” in Long Run.