These days people have a vast array of options to choose from when it comes to where they read the news.
That’s forcing some major changes within the so-called “mainstream” media that aren’t sitting well with their Democrat allies.
And now CNN is making one monumental change that will have its left-wing readers in tears.
CNN website plans to launch a paywall
Consumers of Democrats’ media allies take heed because things are about to change.
CNN is planning to start charging some readers for digital access starting sometime in early October.
The outlet is trying to gain new revenue as the cable television news industry struggles, according to sources close to the network.
CNN is planning to use a metered model, which means that habitual users of the website will have to pay after they read a certain number of articles.
Other publishers including The New York Times and The New Yorker have already been using metered paywalls to bring in income for the last decade.
For now, it’s not clear what the starting price of a subscription to CNN.com will be.
However, the sources said the network would likely start with an affordable option to better gauge customer demand.
The new paywall is one of several major changes implemented by CNN chairman and chief executive Mark Thompson.
Thompson joined CNN almost a year ago and told employees in a memo that technology could help the network deliver journalism that readers “will pay for,” later mentioning the paywall as an option.
The former chief executive of The Times once praised a digital subscription business model that now brings that company significant revenue.
Since he joined CNN, Thompson has hired new executives specifically tasked with working toward the new push for a paywall, including another Times veteran, Alex MacCallum.
MacCallum is now CNN’s executive vice president of digital products and services.
CNN.com brings in hundreds of millions of visitors every month, which means it has the potential to throw the network a financial lifeline as cable news viewership declines.
However, people who aren’t used to paying for online news might not take the bait.
The network will take a wait-and-see approach
According to sources briefed on the paywall plan, CNN will monitor its audience to see how readers respond to the paywall and will make any necessary adjustments if they’re required.
When CNN was under its former executive Jeff Zucker, the network launched CNN+, a streaming service that offered exclusive content from “stars” like Jake Tapper, Chris Wallace, and Anderson Cooper.
However, CNN+ ultimately shut down once its new parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, determined it was too expensive to keep the platform running as they failed to attract enough paying subscribers to even break even.
The new subscription program won’t offer exclusive content like CNN+ did, the sources said.
This strategy will allegedly help to keep overhead costs down and prevent alienating the company’s distribution partners, which pay hundreds of millions of dollars directly to the channel every year.
CNN started testing a “registration wall” earlier this year which required users to provide their email address to be able to read an article.
That data helped CNN determine its new plan to move forward with the paywall setup, but only time will tell whether or not it will be a success.
