Modified Pay Wall Seems to Work, Study Finds

In a study with potential implications for many content-related businesses, a number of newspapers apparently found a hybrid "pay wall" model limited traffic losses (and therefore ad revenue losses) while still creating a differentiated "premium" service offering full access.

The newspapers in the test allowed a small number of "free" article reads each month, while also requiring a subscription for full access.

Journalism Online said monthly unique visits to the Web sites included in its study fell zero to seven percent, while page views fell zero to 20 percent. No publishers reported a decline in advertising revenue.

Unlike a strict pay wall, which requires a subscription to view almost all editorial content, a model like the one Journalism Online employed does not choke off huge amounts of Web traffic.

“If you set this meter conservatively, which we urge people to do, it’s a non event for 85, 90, 95 percent of the people who come to your Web site,” Mr. Brill said.

Journalism Online Examines Pay Model - NYTimes.com