Fast Company and Inc. are tightening their paywalls, making four daily stories reserved for paying subscribers, reports Sara Guaglione of Digiday.
Guaglione reports, “Part of the reason for doing this is to create more value for subscribers, but the paywall changes are also part of a larger strategy shift to grow consumer revenue at Mansueto Ventures, in light of referral traffic challenges.
“‘The real reason for it … is that traffic is really fickle, and we have to find more ways to build a direct connection with our audiences [and] have that kind of stability that comes from having the subscription business,’ said Stephanie Mehta, CEO of Mansueto Ventures, who spoke at the Digiday Publishing Summit in Vail, Colorado, on Monday.
“Inc. in particular has been ‘very dependent’ on Google Discover traffic, which hasn’t been reliable in the last six months or so, Mehta said. She didn’t share how many subscribers both publications have.”
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