Hearst Newspapers is pushing the Greenwich Time editors and staffers to come up with a way to charge their online readers.
Hearst newspaper insiders tell Greenwich Roundup that here is a big debate about "if" the Greenwich Time should should charge for online content.
The Greenwich Time is thinking of joining a small list of online newspapers that are already using some kind of pay wall or meter on their web sites.
The Greenwich Time is still trying to figuring out its plans, but many local observers expect the paper to adopt some kind of paid membership model.
The Greenwich Time editors are just as stupid as they look if they think that they are going to make a huge amount of money for its so-called "exclusive or premium" content.
Yet Hearst Newspaper insiders continue to tell Greenwich Roundup that Greenwich Time editors are continuing to study various payment systems.
One pay model being studied is a "metered" system.
How might the math might work for a metered Greenwich Time Website?
Hearst Newspapers would charge Greenwich residents who visited more than 10 or 15 times each month.
Greenwich Time Editors think that 10% or 15% of town readers might pay $7 to $8 a month.
The Editors also assumes that the new metered approach would put 15% - 20% of page views and 10% - 15% of ad revenue at risk.
Hearst Newspapers calculate that the most avid Greenwich Time readers are the ones who are going to pay, because they are the ones who most responsible for the greatest number of page views.
What the Greenwich Time editors don't realize is that their pay model will destroy their growth in traffic, ad inventory and their voice on the web. They will create a vacuum that bloggers and citizen journalists will quickly fill.
The risks and the unknowns have convinced much smarter newspaper editors not to try charging online readers.
In a recent survey 16.5% said they were likely to pay if newspapers started charging for web access.
While 65% of the respondents said they were "extremely" unlikely to pay.
You have got to had it to the Greenwich Time Editors, because they have found yet another way to piss off their readers.
The Greenwich Time Editors have also talked about charging by building a new sites with extra offerings such as video, databases and news story archives . The idea involves creating a new website for paying members only. The Website is tentatively called Greenwich Time Plus Or Greenwich Time Extra.
The Greenwich Time Editors think that this approach wont damage anything they have already created on the free side. The thought process is not to take the current Greenwich Time website and put a pay wall around it, but to build something new.
The new additional website would charge $49 for an annual membership or $8 by the month.
Hopefully traffic at the main, Greenwich Time free site would still continue to grow.
One last idea floated by the Greenwich Time Editors and staffers was to stay free but charge high school sports devotees for specialized content they can't find elsewhere. The Greenwich Time would offer extended Cardinal sports content to "Insiders" who would pay $7 - $8 a month.
Just How much A Month Would You Be Willing To Pay Greenwich Time Editor David McCumber To Read Theses News Stories?
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