Times Online paywall alienates huge portion of readership

by Steven Mostyn - Oct 26 2010, 10:45

In looking to generate more revenue through its Net-based content, broadsheet publication The Times has lost almost 90 percent of the UK online readership it had in place before deciding to erect a paywall.

At least, that's the finding of research group Nielsen, which has said around 362,000 people, or 11.6 percent of pre-paywall traffic, are currently prepared to reach into their pockets in order to read articles on The Times website—while the remaining 88.4 percent would evidently prefer to seek out a free alternate news source.

During its opening quarter of paywall operation, The Times website received a monthly average of 1.78 million unique visitors, which is a significant drop off when compared to the 3.1 million uniques that visited during the pre-paywall quarter of April through June.  

According to Nielsen's research, which analysed the first three months of paywall operation between July and September, 29 percent of visitors come from the £50,000 GBP to £80,000 GBP pay bracket, which is an improvement over the 25 percent that visited prior to the introduction of charges. Visitor rates for those earning less the £20,000 GBP have fallen from 19 percent to 14 percent.

Other research figures include nuggets such as: paying visitors are viewing 42 percent more pages per month than an average pre-paywall visitor (which suggests a loyal and dedicated audience); while over 50s now make up 52 percent of the readership, compared to 38 percent before the paywall.

The Times charges £1.00 GBP for 24 hours of full online access to The Times and The Sunday Times websites. It also offers an enhanced subscription service that costs £2.00 per day and provides access to The Times and The Sunday Times websites along with Times+ membership benefits, The Times iPad edition, mobile access, email bulletins and alerts, and daily games and puzzles.

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