NY Times is considering subscriptions for Wirecutter

The New York Times is in the early stages of researching a consumer subscription for its product recommendation site Wirecutter, reports Sara Fischer of Axios.

Fischer reports, “The Times bought Wirecutter in 2016 for over $30 million. To-date, most of the site’s revenue has come from affiliate marketing from retailers like Amazon and Walmart when a person clicks from the recommendation site to the retailer and completes the transaction.

Perpich says the site has experienced a surge in affiliate revenue thanks to people looking for new things for their homes during COVID, like office and cleaning supplies.
But over the long term, Perpich argues, “it’s better to be in a position of having multiple revenue streams” for the brand.

“Be smart: The Times wouldn’t be the first company to put this type of content behind a paywall. Consumer Reports, while offering some free content, also offers a $10 monthly digital subscription and a $39 yearly digital subscription. Its full subscription, which includes 12 issues of its print magazine, is $59 annually.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.