September 22, 2005
A Model To Emulate
Just one more thought on the inexplicable decision by the New York Times to place much of their content behind a firewall -- including a number of sports columnists I regularly link to:
While I might be a small fry traffic-wise, I know for a fact that I've referred readers to the Times more instances than I can count over the last 3.5 years. For many years now, the Times has been a regular stop for me every morning, and its sports columnists would often cover the sort of offbeat sports stories no other paper in America would bother with.
But since they threw up the subscriber wall on Monday, I've rarely dived any deeper than their home page. After just one day, I was running into so many Times Select logos that I've just decided not to bother anymore -- and it's clear I'm not the only one.
When you consider how many bloggers point to their political columnists, it's easy to see how their traffic is probably taking a hit -- and perhaps depriving them of the sort of readers outside of their home delivery area that they seem to want to reach.
In marked contrast, check out what the Washington Post is doing. Working with Technorati, they're providing a list of blog trackbacks for many of their bylined stories. It's a very blogger-friendly move, and one the Post ought to be congratulated on.
UPDATE: More thoughts from Glenn Reynolds.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Funny enough, but the spot the Times finds itself in is a lot like the situation Pete Carroll faced when he was head coach of the New England Patriots. Initially known as a players coach, Carroll didn't exactly run a tight ship in New England, especially in contrast to former Pats coach Bill Parcells.
But when discipline started to break down, Carroll was forced to tighten things up, a course which eventually failed.
At the Times, for many years now, all content with the exception of the archives has been freely available to anyone willing to register. And over this stretch of time, readers have come to expect this free access. And now that it's gone, it's clear some are rebelling.
On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal is more like Bill Parcells. The Journal has been a subscriber-only site since its inception, and has been so successful that its online version is now more profitable than the print edition.
But because they started out tight, the Journal can now afford to loosen things up, so when they do provide free content, folks are likely to praise them instead of knocking them for keeping the vast majority of their content behind a subscriber wall. And once exposed to this free content, a reader is more likely to become a paying subscriber.
So what position would you rather be in?
YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Some thoughts from Mr. Snitch.
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It's also worth noting, Eric, that the Times has also cracked down on syndicators that use Times material online. Syndicators online are only allowed to re-direct visitors to the Times' website for NYT articles - for a fee, of course.
I think a big question is that, even if the Times is able to snag many of their loyal Op-Ed readers with the new pay service, how are they going to create new generations of Times readers by placing the columnists behind a firewall? Guys like me who grow up reading the Times outside New York are going to be a thing of the past.
Good luck, Bill.
Posted by:
at September 23, 2005 01:15 AM
It's worse than that. I have home delivery of the Times, which means I'm entitled to free Times Select. However, I absolutely couldn't manage to navigate the sign-up process, due to time-outs and the like. I might try again in a few weeks. Or, I might not.
Posted by:
at September 23, 2005 09:59 AM
As I'm sure everyone has heard, the Times is cutting four per cent of its workforce due to "tough times throughout the industry." At my paper, they do a sort of half and half balance with subscriber content — the main news and sports stories are free, but if you want the columnists, you'll have to pay.
Seems fair?
Posted by:
at September 23, 2005 12:01 PM
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