Google ditches First Click Free policy

Google is set to disband its ‘First Click Free’ policy this week, replacing it with ‘Flexible Sampling’, allowing publishers to choose the amount of free articles they offer before introducing a paywall.

First Click Free required news publishers to provide a minimum of three free articles per day via Google Search and Google News before readers were shown a paywall.

“Google’s decision to let publishers determine how much content readers can sample from search is a positive development,” said Kinsey Wilson, an adviser to New York Times CEO Mark Thompson.

The US company is now working alongside publishers to support other subscription business models, such as ‘metering’ and ‘try before you buy’.

“It’s extremely clear that advertising alone can no longer pay for the distribution of high quality journalism,” said Jon Slade, the Financial Times’ chief commercial officer.

“Paid-content, or subscription services, are therefore not just a nice-to-have, but an essential component of a publisher’s revenue composition.”

The move follows research, publisher feedback, and experiments with the New York Times and the Financial Times, both of which operate successful subscription services.

Google is also making it easier for readers to subscribe to news providers by using its existing payment technology.