Fortune magazine is raising its cover price, launching a digital paywall and boosting its conference business, reports Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg of The Wall Street Journal.
Trachtenberg reports, “Mr. Murray, a former Wall Street Journal editor, said the digital paywall would be implemented later this year, and that early next year the print magazine would be relaunched with a higher cover price and better-quality paper. He declined to disclose the cost of an online subscription or the print magazine’s future cover price, which currently is $6.99.
“Paywalls have become increasingly attractive to publishers looking to boost their direct revenue from consumers. In January, magazine publisher Condé Nast, a unit of closely held Advance Publications Inc., said it would put all its titles behind paywalls by year-end. Business Insider and New York Magazine parent New York Media LLC are among others that have moved toward charging for digital subscriptions, following publishers such as The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
“‘There is a danger that there could be paywall fatigue,’ said Clifton Leaf, Fortune’s editor in chief. He said Fortune would court analysts, investors and strategists interested in what he described as ‘data-rich deep dives about companies,’ as well as readers concerned about the social role corporations should play.”
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