Quartz going against the grain by dropping paywall

Mark Stenberg of Adweek writes about how the decision by financial news site Quartz to drop its paywall is counter to what others in the industry are doing.

Stenberg writes, “Industry analysts that spoke with Adweek expressed skepticism about the logic behind the decision.

“The removal of the paywall decreases the value proposition of the membership, said Rob Ristagno, chief executive of subscriptions consultancy Sterling Woods. Quartz is not reducing the price of its membership, meaning members are effectively paying more for less—and eliminating the paywall undermines the draw of the Quartz archive, Ristagno said.

“The move could also hamper retention efforts, Danczak added. Churn rates for publishers typically hover between 30%- 40%, and Quartz could find it challenging to convince paying members to re-up their commitment now that the bulk of its reporting is free.

“Quartz conducts regular surveys of its members—and data from those reports found that supporting the publisher and its mission, rather than the exclusivity of content, is many members’ primary motivation for paying, Seward said.”

Read more here.