Two Transcontinental newspapers in N.S. adopt paywall
Posted Jul 17, 2013 10:17:19 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
In a first for Nova Scotia, two mainstream newspapers have implemented a paywall if you want to read their content online.
The Truro Daily News and Yarmouth County Vanguard, as well as the Charlottetown Guardian, join other papers across the country that have already put a price tag on their online content.
If you only check the papers’ websites a few times a month, you’ll still be able to access stories. But if you check them more than 10 times you’ll have to subscribe at a fee of just under eight dollars a month.
Regional Publisher Richard Russell, with Transcontinental Media, believes paying for newspapers online will eventually be the norm across the country.
“This part of the country we’ve been a little bit later to adopt this model, but it’s certainly the norm I believe and most of the papers in Ontario, and I know for sure the larger papers in Canada,” said Russell.
Russell said just like any other business, they can’t provide free material and stay afloat financially. He expected online traffic to drop, but in fact it’s doubled over the last month from 60,000 views to more than 100,000.
The metered access system will be reviewed in the fall, but Russell says it won’t be disappearing.
