Wait, Wasn't A Paywall Supposed To Boost Ad Revenue?

from the that's-what-we-were-told dept

One of the claims we regularly hear from supporters of online newspaper paywalls is that even if it decreases page views, it can actually increase ad revenue, because the publisher has a lot more information about the audience and can sell that for more -- and, in theory, the audience is more loyal and engaged. We still haven't seen that in practice, of course. And it's worth pointing out that Cablevision, who put up a disastrously ill-conceived paywall for the newspaper Newsday, is now reporting that ad revenues continue to decline pretty substantially. To be fair, some will point out that Cablevision doesn't care that much, and is really just trying to use Newsday to stop people from dumping their cable TV/broadband offerings. That may be true -- and the same report does note that Cablevision added both TV and internet subscribers -- but it's worth pointing out for other news publications who make the claim about how paywalls can boost ad revenue.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: ads, journalism, paywalls
Companies: cablevision, newsday


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    AW, 9 Aug 2010 @ 10:10pm

    Fish...meet barrel..pew pew... We can win the battles, but to win the war we need the new media to create an event that will cause public outcry before anything is done, 3 years tops before this happens.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Penguin, 9 Aug 2010 @ 10:29pm

    I hope that Cablevision's ads look better than the ones on this site.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      DSchmeling (profile), 9 Aug 2010 @ 11:52pm

      Re:

      I dunno, I like Schrodinger's Cat. And sometimes I'm really curious as to what it has to do with some woman's chicken... Maybe if you put the chicken in the room with a cat locked up... Yeah, and a bit of radioactive wonderfulness that if it decays unleashes the cat upon the chicken... Hmmm, Schrodinger's Cat eats Strange Woman's Chicken, it's got awesome written all over it!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        BearGriz72 (profile), 10 Aug 2010 @ 1:08am

        Re: Re:

        "Schrodinger's cat eats Strange Woman's Chicken" As the chicken simultaneously did _and_ did not cross the road.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 10 Aug 2010 @ 2:16am

          Schrödinger’s Cake

          You can have it and eat it too.

          Or can you?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • icon
            Hephaestus (profile), 10 Aug 2010 @ 6:54am

            Re: Schrödinger�s Cake

            Yes, but only if you put a person in the box with the cake. Until the box is openned the cake exists in both states eaten and not eaten.

            I hope that helps ... :)

            link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Aug 2010 @ 10:51pm

    Honestly the only reason I haven't signed up to a Newsday or a Times is because of all the extra nonsense that clutters up their portal. I mean honestly? I don't care about some piddling civil war or third-world hunger or this year's elections - they just get in the way of all amazing free ipods and laptops that I can win, or the internet virus scanner!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Pierre Wolff (profile), 9 Aug 2010 @ 11:37pm

    Nevermind ad revs

    Forget ad revenues on their own, are their subscription fees *plus* their ad revenues (however small these might be) add up to more revenue than just their ad revenues before the paywall went up? That's the real question.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Steve R. (profile), 10 Aug 2010 @ 5:36am

    Advertising Revenue and Schrodinger's Cat

    I think that there is a correlation problem.

    Advertising revenue is declining for a lot media irrespective of whether a pay-wall exists or does not exist. So the question becomes: How can the loss of adverting revenue be attributed to the pay-wall?

    I'm confused as to the relevance of Schrodinger's Cat to the chicken. With Schrodinger's Cat, the cat's state (existence) is undetermined and does not become established until examined.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    TheStupidOne, 10 Aug 2010 @ 8:17am

    Better Way ...

    If you want to increase your per reader ad revenue, include an optional log in so that readers can comment and rate articles and have it stored in their profile. Then the site can give you suggested reading that you might appreciate, and they can sell you to advertisers for a premium

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Aaron Schoenberger, 4 Sep 2010 @ 8:05pm

    Paywall = Bad Idea

    I, personally, believe paywalls are a waste. They push visitors away because similar content, if not exactly the same content, can be found on other websites. This needs to be overcome.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.