News Int: 105,000 sign up for the Times paywall
News International has finally released some hard figures for the Times paywall, months after the publisher started charging for access.
According to News Int, 105,000 people have paid to access either The Times or Sunday Times‘ websites and/or its iPad and Kindles apps.
The publisher also claims that in addition to its new digital-only following, a further 100,000 print subscribers have activated their digital accounts.
In total, the News Corporation-owned company claims to have “close to 200,000” digital users. Around half of the 105,000 are monthly subscribers, while many of “the rest” are either single copy or pay-as-you-go customers.
“The headline number is impressive until you realise that the kitchen sink has been thrown in. It’s every sale since the paywall service began. Monthly subs are around 50,000 and that includes iPad and Kindle, so it’s a reasonable start but there is a long way to go,” Raymond Snoddy said.
Apparently, many of these Times users – “early adopters” – live in the UK, are relatively affluent and engage with the products frequently. “There is a particularly high level of engagement amongst those that have downloaded the app, the majority of whom would recommend it to friends,” the press statement said.
“We are very pleased by the response to our new digital services. These figures very clearly show that large numbers of people are willing to pay for quality journalism in digital formats. It is early days but renewal rates are encouraging and each of our digital subscribers is more engaged and more valuable to us than very many unique users of the previous model,” News Int’s chief executive Rebekah Brooks commented.
James Murdoch, News Corporation’s chairman and chief executive of Europe and Asia, added: “We are excited by the progress that we have made in a very short space of time.” And speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, James Harding said: “It’s very early days… but we are hugely encouraged by the figures.”
The company has also unveiled plans to launch an iPad app for The Sunday Times “shortly”.