The Economist's Robin Raven: "Freemium is the only way to go"

But that in-app purchase model is infinitely preferable, he argues, to that of a hard paywall. We've seen arguments on both sides of this for a while, with the Sun's capitulation in lowering its paywall against Martin Sorrell's 'paywalls are the way to go' argument. So why does Raven believe the freemium model - such as that employed by Espresso with its free articles - is the correct model. Ultimately, he argues, it all comes down to allowing your audience to discover the value in your product and making it a part of their daily habits of their own accord:

"Freemium, in my opinion, is the only way to go. I fundamentally disagree with [The Times' hard paywall]. I think it's insane. You need to be able to get your content out there and people need to be able to sample it. "What we're trying to do is build habit-forming products. The most engaging apps out there are habit forming products."

http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/the-economist-s-robin-raven-on-why-hard-paywalls-fail-freemium-is-the-only-way-to-go