The NYT Paywall Hums Along
By Kwesi Asante
In this article from the Columbia Journalism review, The New York Time’s recent implementation of a paid subscription for its online content is discussed.
The Times has exceeded expectations since it implemented its paywall over a year ago. When the paywall was established, many of its critics said that the Times would lose readers since people would be turned off by the idea of having to pay for news.
I think that the Times’ success is a huge triumph for the journalism world as a whole. It demonstrates that people are willing to pay for quality journalism and that it’s a good business model. The Times is an established publication and it is highly regarded. I feel that a similar analogy can be made with cars. For example, there are people who are willing to pay more for a Mercedes Benz rather than buy a car such as KIA even though they both can get you from point A to point B.
The steady increase in digital subscribers over the quarters is encouraging news.
In my opinion, the Times won’t have an issue with gaining subscribers because it is a well known fact that the average Times reader is well educated and there is a correlation with a person’s level of education and their income.Times readers tend to be well off and as such have disposable incomes and won’t mind paying for a digital subscription in order to receive quality journalism.











