Bloomberg Businessweek is going behind a paywall

Bloomberg Businessweek is going behind a paywall as the financial news and information company looks to shift the magazine’s main source of support from its advertisers to its readers, reports Shannon Bond of The Financial Times.

Bond writes, “Businessweek’s paywall will consist of two tiers. For $50-$60 a year, subscribers will get access to its website, the app, a newsletter from the magazine’s editor, and six to eight special print issues. For $87 a year, or $102 outside the US, subscribers will also receive the weekly magazine and get access to quarterly conference calls and livestreamed interviews with business leaders. Without a subscription, readers are limited to four online articles a month.

“The new pricing is a substantial increase from the average $40 per year that Businessweek charges for the print magazine. Mr Smith said the aim was to position the title at ‘the premium end of the market’. As a result, the magazine has cut its rate base — circulation promised to advertisers — from 1m in January to 600,000, phasing out bulk subscriptions and what Mr Smith called ‘the lowest value subscribers’.

“‘We’re focusing on the core audience of people who are prepared to pay more for what we think is a better and more comprehensive product. That is worth something to those people,’ Mr Micklethwait said.”

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