Economist mag launches pay wall
The Economist has been readng NBR. Well, that’s how we’re interpreting it.
The 5000-year-old business title today announced it will try a new website pay wall from October 13. This from the HQ of the venerable rag:
The existing pay wall, which allows non-subscribers to the magazine web access to editorial published within the last 12 months free of charge, will now apply to all content over 90 days old. In addition, “This week’s print edition” – the section of The Economist’s website which allows users to browse online the current edition of the magazine – will be available to subscribers only.
“Through “This week’s print edition” we offer readers an online experience of reading the magazine. We consider this to be a premium reading experience and plan to develop the online edition of our magazine for our most loyal and engaged readers: subscribers. We will continue to encourage both subscribers and non-subscribers to participate in the extraordinary discussions we host on www.economist.com, Facebook and elsewhere, catalysed by our breaking news commentary, our blogs and audio-visual content, and by our award-winning debates.”
Ben Edwards, publisher of The Economist‘s website, said: “The Economist brand has innovated and expanded online, moving beyond making the magazine available via the internet to become a hub for intelligent discussion and debate. Our intention is to continue to develop intelligent discussion as a free, advertising-supported experience, but to charge for the weekly magazine online.
troy
October 7, 2009
Get your facts right. The Economist is hardly 5000 years old. That would make it older than the NZ Herald. You guys are sloppy as.
Chris Pescott
October 7, 2009
I was only a nipper 5000 years ago. Still remember The Economist in its early form, It was always a rather a heavy read.
B
October 7, 2009
And I would imagine that they’re more likely to have their eyes on the Financial Times model (FT.com) than our won venerable famous-in-New-Zilland NBR. FT.comt began it’s move towards paid content way back in ’04 / ’05 (nearly 4000 years ago.)