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Ad Age Reports Paywalls Help to Increase Advertising Rates and Corroborated by Paywall Data Report

Ad Age Reports Paywalls Help to Increase Advertising Rates and Corroborated by Paywall Data Report

 

Ft. Lauderdale, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/16/2013 -- A paywall is a system that prevents Internet users from accessing webpage content without a paid subscription. While paywalls are used to bring in extra revenue for companies by charging for online content, they have also been used to increase the number of print subscribers. Some newspapers offer access to online content, including delivery of a Sunday print edition at a lower price than online access alone. News sites use this tactic because it increases both their online revenue and their print circulation.

Ad Age reported that online paywalls are helping some newspaper and magazine websites increase the ad rates they charge, according to a new report from the Online Publishers Association. The feature by Michael Sebastian reported that The Financial Times says its data on subscribers is helping it charge higher prices for ads and that it is a hopeful sign for publishers that have hesitated to erect paywalls, despite the potential to generate new revenue from readers, for fear of hurting traffic and ad revenue in turn.

"This report demystified the concept that subscription models would have a negative impact on the ad growth," said Pam Horan, president of the OPA, whose report examined nine of its members that use some form of paywall, including Time Inc., The New York Times and The Financial Times. "We saw consistently that our members were having a very successful advertising business while growing their subscription business."

Paywalls help increase ad rates partly because publishers capture valuable "first-party" data on subscribers as they sign up, the report suggested. "They're finding that these models give them additional insights into their readers," Ms. Horan said. "They're using data as an asset to understand consumer behavior and help marketers target these audiences and design the right products."

The first paywall data report is being assembled and distributed by TR Cutler, Inc. Requests for the report made before January 31, 2014 will be sent free of charge upon publication. To receive the Paywall Data Report register at: http://trcutlerinc.com/paywall-data-report.php.

About Thomas R. Cutler
Thomas R. Cutler is the President & CEO of Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based, TR Cutler, Inc., (http://www.trcutlerinc.com). Cutler is the founder of the Manufacturing Media Consortium including more than 5000 journalists, editors, and economists writing about trends in manufacturing, industry, material handling, and process improvement. Cutler is the most published freelance industrial journalist worldwide; Follow Thomas R Cutler on Twitter @ThomasRCutler.

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