NYT Tightens Paywall

The New York Times is making it harder and harder for users to cash in their 20 free articles a month, as the newspaper giants looks to shore up its paywall.

When the Times launched its digital subscription product in late March, many of the paper’s section articles were off limits to iPad and iPhone readers, such as sports and business. However, but the popular “most emailed” selection was wide open, offering a way for readers to regularly read some articles that fell within sections beyond main news.

But quietly, on June 16 the NYT locked away “most emailed” for iPhone and iPad users — meaning video and “top news” are the only sections they can access via the 20 free monthly articles afforded to non-subscribers each month.

While it might seem that the NYT is gradually looking to lock out non-subscribers, a company spokesperson said that from the beginning the newspaper planned to keep “top news” open.

Instead, what may be happening is that the NYT is having some success with its $40 million paywall experiment and is looking to pull in readers who are on the fence. That’s because initial reports on the paywall are promising. In April, the company announced that it had signed on 100,000 digital subscribers in just a few weeks.

Of course, the Web is also rife with ways for readers to beat the NYT’s paywall. For example, the phrase “New York Times Paywall Hacks” yields nearly 250,000 search results on Google.