Wired’s paywall has begun

Eric Johnson of Recode writes about how Wired magazine’s paywall has begun.

Johnson writes, “‘You can read whatever you want, but if you read five stories in a month, we ask you to please pay us,’ Wired Editor in Chief Nick Thompson said on the latest episode of Recode Media with Peter Kafka.

“Once Wired visitors cross the five-story mark, they are asked to pay $20 per year to continue reading, with the added bonus of no advertisements, although Thompson said the first three months will be free. Customers are becoming more accustomed to paywalls, he said, and media businesses are realizing a simple but true fact: They work, while advertising increasingly does not.

“‘All digital publishers have to think about this,’ he said. ‘You can come up with lots of different business models: You can host conferences in Huntington Beach, which is an excellent idea. You can have podcasts, you can have videos, where the CPMs are pretty good. Or, you can say, ‘We want you to pay us.’'”

Read more here.