Categories: OLD Media Moves

BusinessWeek to try paid online model

Lucia Moses of MediaWeek reports that BusinessWeek is trying a paid online model where subscribers will have a different experience.

Moses writes, “Neal said the subscriber-only view would be print-like in presentation. He said the goal is to serve both paying and nonpaying readers by ‘making all our content available to Internet users but still providing a special privilege for print subscribers.’ Users will get other benefits, like instant access to the print content online.

“The new paid/free strategy is part of a site relaunch in July which will consolidate its many channels into three focused on breaking news, analysis and community. The last one will include Business Exchange, the siteâ€™s recently created business social net. New and more ad units also will be offered. Underlying the changes is a new tech platform designed to enable real-time site updates, Neal said.

“More broadly, the site redesign is part of the McGraw-Hill Cos. weeklyâ€™s answer to the question of how to differentiate online from print. While the site emphasizes breaking news and community, the magazine is focusing on stories that are forward looking and actionable, as the title will try to do with its summer double issue, which makes the case for ‘rational optimism’ about the economy.”

View Comments

Aaron Pressman says:
June 17, 2009 at 2:01 pm
John Byrne, the head of our web site, has denied a lot of what was reported in that story on his twitter feed. See http://twitter.com/johnabyrne
For example:
We'll debut a new home page redesign next week--not in July as reported today by Mediaweek. And we're NOT going to a pay model online.5:57 PM Jun 15th from web
@vistaconcept We're also NOT going down to three news channels as reported by Mediaweek.7:38 PM Jun 15th from TwitterBerry
@rachelakay Yes indeed. We're not going to a paid model, contrary to what was reported.