New York Times Implements Paywall

Posted on April 4, 2011

The New York Times paywall is now in place. People who already subscribe to the New York Times will get full access to nytimes.com. Non-subscribers will be able to view a maximum of 20 articles a month. Beyond 20 articles and for open access to the site, users will be asked to become digital subscribers. Rates for a subscription range from $15 to $35 a month.

A FAQ on nytimes.com says articles linked from Facebook, Twitter, blogs and search engines can still be read even the user has already reached the 20 free articles limit.

Yes. We encourage links from Facebook, Twitter, search engines, blogs and social media. When you visit NYTimes.com through a link from one of these channels, that article (or video, slide show, etc.) will count toward your monthly limit of 20 free articles, but you will still be able to view it even if you've already read your 20 free articles.

Critics think the New York Times paywall will reduce traffic to nytimes.com without a big enough increase in revenues to make up for the lost traffic. It will be more clear how effective the paywall is after a couple months have gone by. Many users of nytimes.com that do not subscribe have probably not even reached their monthly maximum of 20 articles yet.