Is it worth it? The new paywalled TheTimes.co.uk website.
Today is the day when Murdoch puts his money where his mouth is. The biggest gamble since I placed my £10 bet on North Korea to win the world cup. The Times news website is now behind a paywall. This means to access all content off of the front page of TheTimes.co.uk now requires users to sign up and pay £1 per day or £2 per week to access the content.
This is a very big test for a big business to change it’s model online in one day. Should it work; News International will single handedly be responsible for turning news online on it’s head and actually making it profitable. Should it fail; it would be a spectacular event, a story told for generations to come, where the big nasty corporation screwed it up massively and people just went to read the free but equally good news on the BBC News website instead. WHICH IS WHAT I PREDICT TO HAPPEN.
News International – head up own arse shocker
This quote from Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, is particularly apt:
“We are proud of our journalism and unashamed to say that we believe it has value.”, yes but so is the Guardian and it is free on their website. Furthermore, I would like to see News Int. use the same argument when their other ‘quality’ newspaper website TheSun.co.uk goes behind the same paywall, not so proud now are you.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall of The Sun’s online target market; when unemployed Doreen in a council estate in Slough, who can barely read let alone get a bank account is asked to enter her credit card details into a 5 page sign up form on the site. Good luck Murdoch.
All that negativity to one side; the site looks really rich and seems a cut above most online news sites, with content and design being carefully considered. Whether this better user experience is worth paying for, or if people will just go elsewhere, will become apparent very soon. And such is the power of the internet that has allowed this to happen, be prepared for people like me to scream and shout about it until it we are happy.
Tags: paywall, rupert murdoch, the times, thetimes.co.uk
