CNN will put some of its digital content behind a subscription paywall starting next month, The New York Times reports. The experiment will test similar subscription models to those used by publications like The New Yorker, Wired, and The Wall Street Journal, with CNN reportedly hoping to bring in additional revenue amid a decline in cable TV viewership.
A “metered” paywall feature is set to launch sometime in early October that will require CNN’s more frequent readers to pay for access after exhausting a nonspecified number of free articles. CNN is the most visited news website in the US, attracting 441.4 million visits per month, according to Press Gazette. The price of this subscription model hasn’t been disclosed but will initially be “an inexpensive offering to gauge customer demand” according to The Times.
CNN began testing a similar “registration wall” feature earlier this year that blocked access to certain articles unless readers provided their email address. The publication’s paywall plans were teased in July alongside a company restructuring that laid off around 100 staffers, with CNN chairman Mark Thompson announcing plans to build a digital subscription business that would create “more than a billion dollars in revenue” to futureproof the company.
