Paris – News Corp.’s (NYSE: NWS) U.K. newspapers The Times and The
Sunday Times of London have added 105,000 paying online subscribers, since
beginning to charge for Web access in June, The New York Times reported.
News Corp.
told The Times that that about half of these are regular active subscribers,
while the rest occasionally purchase subscription content.
This figure does not
include subscribers to the print edition who receive free online access;
another 100,000 subscribers have so far activated their digital subscriptions.
"These figures very clearly show that large numbers of people are willing
to pay for quality journalism in digital formats," said Rebekah Brooks,
CEO of News Corp.’s News International unit.
News Corp. had predicted that
traffic to the sites would drop 90% after the subscription "paywall"
was erected; Nielsen reports that traffic to the newspaper sites fell by 42%.
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2asm2y4
(N.Y. Times)
