Nieman Foundation at Harvard
HOME
          
LATEST STORY
The rise of informal news networks
ABOUT                    SUBSCRIBE

Articles tagged paywall (273)

It’s generated controversy over its fundraising, its paywall, and its staffing. But it’s also about as close as a major American city has gotten to a digital news site that can go toe-to-toe with the local daily newspaper.
“Having a machine-learning framework to say who’s likely to churn, register, and subscribe has been a critical step in us making those experiences more tailored.”
Being a Quartz Member ($100/year) will now be required for access to all of its stories — one more case of a quality publisher finding that advertising revenue isn’t enough to allow a readership without limits.
The billionaire owner on unions (“I think they did the unionize thing out of desperation”), esports (“We must start fighting for the 16-year-olds all the way to the 30-year-olds, because that’s not our demographic”), and hiring the intern.
It’s a few years behind its East Coast brethren in New York and Washington. But tens of millions in new investment and ambitious digital plans are showing a path back to its former prominence — and beyond.
The newspaper tariffs are dead. How big a difference will that make to those whose businesses still depends on dead trees?
What’s the kind of story worth putting outside a hard paywall? The kind of civic storytelling that shows that you’re “covering the city like no one else.”
One finding: “Need-to-know material converts (related to how to live your life, understand the world), while nice-to-know (guides, arts, reviews) converts badly but is key for retention.”
“My team believes that by investing in the subscribers we have and making the subscription experience better and better, we’ll be able to help all parts of the subscription business.”
“I think there’s a very viable long-term financial model for commercial media. But I don’t necessarily think that applies directly to journalism.”