One of the most unusual efforts to make money from a newspaper web site launches today in Boston, slightly less than a year after plans were announced. For the rest of September, BostonGlobe.com, which went live overnight, will be open to registered users through a sponsored free trial. Come Oct. 1, most of the content from the second-largest New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) paper will be available only to print subscribers and those willing to pay $3.99 a week—$208 a year—for online-only access.
Unlike sites that have been open access until a “paywall” goes up, technically BostonGlobe.com launches as a subscription-only site. But the same content has been free until now through regional news and info site Boston.com, which will no longer will house the complete paper. Overall, Editor Martin Baron estimates that about three-fourths of the newspaper’s content will now only be available on BostonGlobe.com.The goal is to keep Boston.com high traffic by keeping it open, while developing BostonGlobe.com for subscribers. Boston.com still will have fresh newsroom-produced daily content, including 20 new blogs and breaking news, and will feature some articles from the newspaper. (Here’s the FAQ on Boston.com.)
Baron describes it as “two different sites for two different kinds of reader—some understand journalism needs to be funded and paid for. Other people just won’t pay. We have a site fior them.”
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-bostonglobe.com-launches-today-shifts-to-subscribers-only-oct.-1
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