NEW YORK—In a move that media executives, economic forecasters, and business analysts alike are calling “extremely bold,” NYTimes.com put into place a groundbreaking new business model today in which the news website will charge people money to consume the goods and services it provides. “The whole idea of an American business trying to make a profit off of a product its hired professionals create on a daily basis is a truly brave and intrepid strategy,” said media analyst Steve Messner, adding that NYTimes.com’s extremely risky new approach to commerce—wherein legal tender must be exchanged in order to receive a desired service—could drastically reduce the publication’s readership.

via The Onion – America’s Finest News Source.

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8 Comments

    • @evablue,
      While it does look like a major fail, they might be smarter than we think. Making the paywall easy to bypass ensures that their readership remains high, thus keeping the advertising revenue steady, while at the same time generating additional revenue through the pay system from people who deem themselves too honest to ‘cheat’.

      • @Tim,

        you’re kidding right? i don’t understand your logic. you pay millions of dollars to create a pay system and you intentionally make it fail? you mean give geeks free access but make the normals pay? because only geeks read mashable and deserve the right to hack the pay system? rilly?

        my point is that you PAY to make a paywall and it fails. morality and revenue is another issue.

        but perhaps the point of the article is that even if 1% of the 33 million subscribers pay. it’s still a good chunk of change. so, it’s really all about ROI. ;)

        meh. what do i know. i don’t even punctuate.

        • @evablue,
          I have no idea whether or not they’re doing it intentionally, all I’m saying is that it *might* work to their advantage.

          It’s not about geeks vs. normal people and their supposed “right to hack the pay system” (wtf?!). The point is some people will pay even though they know how to get it for free. Anyone under 35 knows how to download music for free yet iTunes seems to be be doing quite well. People who don’t want to pay for the service will always find a way but a lot of people prefer to go the legal way. If they keep the paywall easy to bypass they can hold on to their cheapskate readership and still get revenue from paying customers.

          Besides, the $40million for the paywall is a rumor and even if it’s true that’s not a lot of money. 200’000 new paying subscribers and they’re even. Shouldn’t be that hard.

          • @Tim,

            ok… so… we’re not even having the same conversation… moving on…

            i think we agree… it’s all about Return On Investment. ;)

  1. haha! the onion

  2. Ha Ha! I was sitting here in total shock for a moment until I saw it was an Onion story. Clearly I have a caffeine deficiency at the moment.

    Boy they really nailed it on this one.

  3. “NYT Charges for Access to Vital Information: Poor and Minorities Hardest Hit”

    Well… it could happen.


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