After almost two years of locking its online content behind a paywall, The Sun is set to make more of its content available for free.
Press Gazette reported on Friday (19 June) that News UK chief executive Mike Darcey had told staff that from next month “select” digital content from The Sun will be openly available.
Currently the Sun charges £7.99 per month to access its online content.
“Much of this content will be generated on a bespoke basis by new teams, but editors will also be able to deploy other Sun stories, especially ones well covered by competitors,” Darcey reportedly said to staff. “Expect to see early moves of this kind in the areas of general news and sports.
“The guiding principle for the free content will be shareability, helping us to take advantage of the growing trend of readers finding and sharing content on social media, given further impetus by the rapid rise in smartphone use. By doing so, we can extend the reach of The Sun brand, bring more people into a Sun conversation and provide an entry point to our paid propositions, both print and digital.
“At the same time, we will be expanding our pool of digital inventory, making us better placed to respond to the calls of advertisers for solutions across print and digital.”
Last year Darcey lambasted the likes of the Guardian for giving content away for free. In response, the chief executive of the Guardian Media Group, Andrew Miller, said Darcey’s vision was out of touch with the spirit of “openness” that defined the digital age.
“Open isn’t a luxury; it is not a nice thing we want to do, it is reality,” he said. “Open is the way the web works, so we are working with the web.”
Over half (56%) of journalists, political insiders and business leaders believe that paywalls are the future of digital news, according to a YouGov study conducted on behalf of the London Press Club.
Of the 739 respondents, the research found that 42% think “soft” or “metered” paywalls are the most viable business strategy for newsbrands, with 14% thinking that full or “hard” paywalls make “most long-term commercial sense”.
However, only one in three (34%) think that such strategies will be profitable enough to be commercially sustainable in a global market where digital news remains readily available and free. The study also revealed that 43% believe that paid-for models are not sustainable at all.
