The New York Times Paywall Case Solution

1. Is the paywall working? 

Media companies and news agencies are paying serious attention to increasing their user base and therefore, they are taking on the idea of introducing a digital paywall to fight the dramatic loss of readers in the past few years. In my opinion, it depends upon the type of Newspaper Company. I believe that the newspapers with exclusive content can substantially increase their revenue with the help of paywalls. Paywalls can increase sales in the form of online subscriptions. Newspapers with common content easily available on the other sites can harm their online traffic by introducing paywalls because clearly, no one wants to spend money for information that is easily available elsewhere. The success of the paywall depends upon the uniqueness and exclusivity of the newspaper brand. 

As per the previous results, newspapers with less exclusive content have suffered losses due to paywalls. Thus, paywalls do not seem to be working for all kinds of newspapers. It is not the right formula for success for newspaper companies these days. It depends upon the nature of the content. These subscription models have a deep influence, depending on the nature of the company. Nonetheless, the study found that a robust corporate profile, as well as distinctiveness of information, were important determinants in post-paywall sales performance.

In my opinion, the paywall method runs counter to journalism's core objective of educating and informing society regarding vital problems. Once newspapers say things like "it is so vital that we've been providing it free," they're also suggesting that perhaps the rest of what they print isn't as crucial, so they'll price you for it. It's difficult to think of a company concept that is farther backward. Paywalls might help a publication make a fortune, however, it also hastens the terrifying prospect of users leaving the website, trying the freebie content, and concluding that it's very much the same. Alternatively, people may simply throw their gadgets aside and head elsewhere.

2. How would you evaluate the current Paywall compared with the two prior ones? Do you think it is appropriately designed compared with the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal?

In my opinion, the current paywall introduced by the New York Times is better than the previous ones. I strongly believe that the paywall introduced by the New York Times is a success. The New York Times is a well-established brand name not only in the US but also all across the world. It enjoys high customer loyalty because of its well-established name and high brand equity. Therefore, such a giant newspaper company can afford to introduce paywalls, a completely new idea in the market. However, the same subscription model and the paywall system cannot prove to be impactful for all the other newspapers in the country. It depends upon the nature of the company and the exclusivity and uniqueness of the content.