Times Online early statistics: 15,000 paying users

The Times and Sunday Times websites have been charging for access for two weeks now, with early unofficial statistics reporting 15,000 paying users.

Although Times Newspapers stopped reporting their web traffic in April, Hitwise reports that the paywall resulted in site visits declining significantly. Visits were reduced by 58% even during the free registration period, and down a further 9% after the first week of payments being required.

In terms of subscribed users, according to former Times media correspondent Dan Sabbagh on Beehive City, the data is as follows:

• 150,000 users registered during the free trial period
• 15,000 of those are now paying users
• 12,500 users are also paying for a separate iPad app

These statistics suggest that only 12% of the Times Online’s previous daily audience signed up for a free account during the month long registration period, and then a tenth of these paid for access after. This means that, if the data is correct, 1.2% of the initial online users have paid to use The Times and Sunday Times online service.

However, the concept of the Times Online’s paid model is to attract fewer but more loyal users, and a poll for paidContent:UK taken last month found that 76% of Times Online readers were “not at all likely” to pay for access to the new websites, so some drops were expected – although perhaps not to the extent these figures show. However, 12,500 iPad users is encouraging, and the number may still rise.

The iPad application costs £9.99 for 30 days, while the Times Plus website (incorporating both The Times and The Sunday Times) costs £1 for a day’s access, or £2 for a week’ s subscription.

The Times have not commented on these user statistics, but are expected to announce official numbers as the model becomes more settled.

When the new Times sites were launched last month, GfK reported notable changes in demographics, with more female visits than before, and more ‘older’ people signing on as younger readers dropped off. Times readers also increased their visits to other news sites by 27%, mainly turning to the websites of The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Mail as a subsitute.