This morning, The New York Times (NYT) announced sweeping changes to its subscription model, including some very intriguing digital options. Joining the ranks of The Wall Street Journal, the NYT will now offer limited free content online, and keep everything else available only to digital subscribers. The NYT claims this move “will strengthen our ability to provide high-quality journalism to readers around the world and on any platform. The change will primarily affect those who are heavy consumers of the content on our website and on mobile applications.”
Beginning March 28 in the U.S., the NYT will be different in the following ways:
- Online users can only view 20 articles per month before they’re requested to become a paid digital subscriber.
- Smartphone and tablet users will get the “Top News” section free of charge, while everything else will be limited to the paid subscription.
- If you subscribe to the physical paper, you’ll get free access to all online content.
- For those people who want to upgrade right now to the paid subscription, there are three different options ranging in price from $15 per month to $35 per month.
While this won’t likely have a significant effect on communication strategies, there is one interesting key point I’d like to make. According to the announcement, people that click on a NYT’s article via a social media link on Twitter or Facebook, will be able to read that article, regardless of whether or not they have reached their monthly limit.
The takeaway? Utilizing social media to highlight and publicize interesting NYT articles about your company or your industry will be more important than ever. Editorial coverage in the NYT is often coveted by companies, due to the newspaper’s high readership, global reach, reputation and credibility in the field of journalism.
With this new online viewing limit, it will be difficult to ensure a mention of your company will be read by the masses, which means it will be more important that communication professionals assist clients by working together to tweet, re-tweet or post NYT articles that we know will be of interest to our audience. It’s our chance to become even more of a thought-leader in our given industry, as well as a valued member of the social media world.
Do you think the new subscription model for the NYT will change your communication strategy? Do you plan on being more diligent about posting links on social media? Join the conversation in the comments below.