By: Staff Reports Print Subscribers Get Free Access
The latest newspaper to charge for access to its Web site may
also be the largest to do so (excluding The Wall Street
Journal). The Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal is now
restricting access to its Web site
to print newspaper subscribers.
Nonsubscribers to the print Journal (circulation 110,000
weekdays, 159,000 Sundays) may purchase online memberships.
Nonmembers will only have free access to news headlines,
classifieds, and advertisements. To get the full text of a story,
one must be a subscriber.
The cost for an online subscription is $8 per month or $60 per
year. That compares with home delivery of the print newspaper for
$11.25 per month. A subscription by mail costs $240 per year.
In a note on the site, Journal Publisher Tom Lang said,
"Our Web site provides extra news and value to our print
subscribers. But, with the ability to update frequently and
personalize news, ABQjournal.com is also an efficient delivery
system for viewers who prefer to read their local news online
from anywhere in the world. By making our Web site for members
only, ABQjournal.com hopes to strengthen its bond to the printed
newspaper and to deliver electronically the most comprehensive
and best edited news reports from around the state."
Donn Friedman, assistant managing editor for the Journal,
said that advertising and a few other small revenue streams (such
as archives and reprints) were not enough to support the site,
which employs 3.5 full-time employees. The rates for local
advertisers are low and almost no national advertisers can be
found on the site, he said. Still, the site's current local
advertisers say they will continue to advertise on the new site.
A week after restricting access, ABQjournal.com's unique users
are down about 40%, according to internal statistics. The site
expected this to happen.
But surprisingly, page views were only off about 10%, Friedman
said. "It may be that once a user has taken the time to enter
their name and password, they stay on the site longer," he
speculates. Friedman cautions that it's too early to draw any
conclusions about the new system.
Also expected were complaints from Web site users. Friedman said
he's received about 500 e-mails from readers complaining about
the change and only about 10 from those praising the move. Many
angry readers asked why the Albuquerque Journal thinks it
can charge for its Web site when the nation's largest newspapers
such as USA Today and the Chicago Tribune have free
sites. Those readers are referred to the publisher's statement.
"It's very expensive to run a quality operation that provides
news as it happens," Friedman said. "We're doing this because we
feel that we offer something that's valuable. At the very least,
it's a way to reward our print subscribers without any additional
cost." Friedman points out that the Web site includes additional
information that doesn't appear in print.
When asked if the experiment would be successful, Friedman said,
"It has to be."
The New Mexico newspaper is only the latest to experiment with
paid access for online content. Other newspapers charging for
their online editions include The Standard-Times of New
Bedford, Mass., the Post-Bulletin of Rochester, Minn., and
the Lewiston (Idaho) Morning Tribune. Media General
Inc. of Richmond, Va., expects to sell subscriptions to some of
its newspaper Web sites by the end of the year.
Related stories:
NEWSPAPERS HAVE THE CONTENT CONVERSATION (05/21/01)
NEWSPAPER WEB SITES: 'SHOW ME THE MONEY' (04/30/01)
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.
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