Reuters is planning on putting many of its articles behind a subscription paywall, the news service told employees, reports Tim Dotan of The INformation.
Dotan reports, “Reuters would become one of the last free news services to adopt a subscription business model, a sign of how much the news industry has shifted away from relying on advertising.
“The current plan, outlined to Reuters employees last month, envisions putting all articles coming from specific coverage areas—such as energy, sustainability and its opinion content Breaking Views—behind a paywall by next February. A Reuters spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“In 2018, Reuters’ closest competitor Bloomberg put its stories behind a paywall; the company hasn’t disclosed how many people have signed up, although it has said the figures have surpassed internal expectations. Over the past few years, most major newspapers and magazines have adopted paywalls. Some, such as the New York Times, have had great success: the Times said it had 4 million digital subscribers as of March 30.
“In the internal announcement, Reuters also said it was going to be redesigning its homepage to better highlight digital advertising. The company further stated it would no longer rely on outside ad tech companies to provide data to target people on the site.”
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