NYT unveils new metered paywall solution

The New York Times is expected to introduce a “metered solution” to charge for online content.

Speaking at the paidContemt conference in New York, the title’s president and CEO Janet Robinson said the NYT will implement a metered system to provide both free and paid-for content “as a way to continue to have a robust ad sales and paid content”.

The title hopes the metered model will give them a chance to balance revenue, advertising and reach and as such, will allow it to retain its position as the top global newspaper website.

The New York Times is currently integrating its subscriber database with the new system to enable subscribers to browse online content as they wish, according to reports.

New users will also be able to browse the website’s content without being charged, unless they become heavy readers – “We are not trying to take ourselves out of the digital ecosystem,” a New York Times executive said.

Readers will also be able to access nytimes.com from blogs and other links, although “at a certain point, they’ll hit a paywall”.

Martin Nisenholt, NYT’s senior vice-president of digital operations, said: “We have enough scope and scale to make this move. Our hope is that the idea of the metered model will allow us to stay a very large website and get a second revenue stream.”

The New York Times‘ website has been free to access for 15 years.