Washington Post Lifts Paywall for Other Papers’ Subscribers as Bezos Seeks Readers
Posted in: Uncategorized
The Washington Post, seeking to expand its subscriber base under new owner Jeff Bezos, is giving readers of a half-dozen other newspapers full access to its website and mobile applications.
The pilot program lets paying subscribers of papers such as the Dallas Morning News access the Post’s stories as well, the publisher said today. The Post can then benefit from the extra online traffic, according to Steve Hills, the newspaper’s president and general manager. A digital subscription to the Post costs $99 for a year, or $9.99 every four weeks.
Adding readers is crucial to the Post, which has had a steadily shrinking audience along with the advertising declines that have affected the entire industry. The newspaper’s average weekday circulation of 431,521 last year was a 41% decline from 2003, according to the Alliance for Audited Media. Mr. Bezos, the founder of Amazon, paid $250 million for the newspaper in October, ending eight decades of family ownership under the Grahams.
Post a Comment