A regional daily has become the only newspaper of its kind in England to feature a paywall on its website.
The Northern Echo has announced the move which will see readers given free access to 10 articles per month before being asked to register with the site.
At this point, a further 10 articles will be available without charge before triggering a £1 per week fee.
It follows the same online strategy of the Echo’s Glasgow-based Newsquest stablemates at the Herald & Times Group, which introduced a similar system four years ago.
It is understood Newsquest will monitor how the new trial is received at the Darlington-based Echo, which launched the paywall on Tuesday, before it considers introducing it to further titles.
The last English regional daily to experiment with a paywall was the Express & Star, Wolverhampton, which scrapped the trial after nine months in January 2012.
Between November 2009 and March 2010, Johnston Press trialled a £5 subscription charge on some of its weekly titles’ websites in a scheme which was described as a “disaster” by a source at one of the newspapers affected.
In February this year the Jersey Evening Post unveiled its own metered online paywall and Aberdeen’s Press and Journal also has a metered paywall.
For £1 a week, visitors to the Echo’s website will receive unlimited website access, the Echo’s iOS and android app, daily email headline alerts and full local history archive access.
A combined print and digital ‘EchoPLUS’ package will also be available for £3.47 per week.
The change was announced in a piece on the Echo’s website by editor Peter Barron.
He wrote: “Today, the media industry is embroiled in another technological revolution, with people consuming information in a variety of ways, thanks to the internet.
“The modern Northern Echo is much more than just a newspaper and now it is easier to access our information and unrivalled local journalism wherever and whenever you want it.
“Quality journalism costs money to produce but we have made it great value with a combination of print and online packages from just £1 per week.”
Sign up for our free daily email bulletin
Follow HTFP on Twitter
Got a story? Email the Editor at
I obviously don’t know the numbers but would guess a large proportion of users would not view 20 articles a month on the site
I fear the majority of users will just not see it as necessary to upgrade to the subscription model
This will give low subscriber numbers and the digital naysayers the chance to write off another ‘disaster’
It is good to see people trying things digitally, I just don’t think this halfway house is the right option
Love to be proved wrong though
Report this comment
I doubt people will pay for listicles or clickbait…
Report this comment
Ah but after the first enrolment stage the Echo will have captured valuable data, worth something (quite a lot) in monetary terms these days even if the punter ticks the box for no spam. They will have taken all this into account and planned how to make some money from it, even though the grand scheme won’t catch on.
Report this comment
Sorry to conform to The EggMan’s dismal digital naysayer stereotype but this just isn’t going to work in a month of Sundays. I am prepared to eat my cloth cap for charity if it does, but I suspect we won’t even get any subscriber numbers announced (as is mostly the way with digital) before the plug is ever-so-quietly pulled. Sorry, Eggy.
Report this comment
They’ll scrap this ridiculous idea within six months, but not until they tell us they had thousands of subscribers.
In reality, an audience hungry for free information will simply look elsewhere, and they’ll have about a dozen folk willing to pay for online content.
Paywalls on regional newspapers will never work.
Report this comment
Maybe a slight chance with regionals. None at all with weeklies because most of their stories are just too dull for pay websites.
Report this comment
Interesting to note that as soon as readers started making negative comments about this on the Echo’s website, they were removed and the comments function disabled.
Report this comment
Applepip makes the trenchant observation that today’s information technology is unparalleled in its capacity to distort and even deny information. This is especially true in the communications industry (sic) and this is what will happen here.
Report this comment
@DickMinim – I agree – I don’t think it will work, where we differ is I would like to be proved wrong
The sad part of plans like this which are unlikely to work are they tend to tar digital with the same brush. And yes the naysayers will jump on board to brush this off as a disaster, no money in digital, invest everything back into print – you know the score
There are people doing genuinely innovative things around digital to generate revenue, they are the ones we should be focusing on, not plans that we all see will struggle to get off the ground
Report this comment
“There are people doing genuinely innovative things around digital to generate revenue.”
Can you give us examples.
Report this comment
Applepip. It’s called freedom of speech and opinion.That’s what hacks are always banging on about. unless of course it knocks a newspaper.
Our profession gets more cynical by the day I am sorry to say.
Report this comment
@Kendo Nagasaki – firstly, wow. Secondly of course, I will give you a few…..
1. Newsrooms across the country are restructuring to focus on digital. Investment has been made in both tech and staff – perhaps not enough yet but steps have been taken. We are looking more at analytics to see exactly what users want, and providing them with that content
2. Platforms have improved to make user experience better, desktop, mobile and tablet versions make for a much better experience, not to mention the apps that are now on the market
3. Content. Some would have you believe it’s all listicles and cats doing somersaults. It’s not. Long form journalism still has a place – this is particularly true when immersive tools are used such as Shorthand. Never before has journalism used data as well as we are now. And the day to day nuts and bolts is getting done better and being presented to people faster than every before.
I could happily go on but the point is we are fashioning an industry in a way to survive. Change and innovation is taking place every single day
This is the world we live in. If you were not aware of any of the points above then I would advise taking your head out of the sand.
Report this comment
The article states that this follows the introduction of a similar paywall on The Herald Glasgow website some years ago. If that’s the case, surely the paywall there must have proved to be effective, otherwise why would Newsquest be experimenting in extending it to other titles in the group?
Report this comment
Trinity-Mirror’s nearby Chronicle (and other Newsroom 3.1 adopters) has taken a different approach that seems to be working. Pump everything out online as fast as possible and watch the numbers grow exponentially, while still putting out print for those that prefer a paper or don’t look at news on the internet. Their sales teams have something concrete to offer advertisers instead of telling their customers their targets will be asked to pay to see their digital adverts.
Report this comment
The average ‘web user’ spends less than five minutes a month on local news websites, according to ComScore figures from 2014.
Given that length of time, I’m guessing that few of them look at much more than 10 articles a month anyway. Does up to 30 seconds per article seem fair?
Unless the website is crammed full of detailed, exclusive content which the most loyal readers cannot bare to miss, all a metered paywall will do is drive them to the BBC or other local news sources.
Let’s face it, once the cat is out of the bag with any exclusive most local rivals will have a basic version rewritten on their own website within a few minutes.
Even if the content is exclusive and in-depth, will readers pay for the additional details or have desire to be one of the first to read it? Sadly, not! Most of them will be happy read the first few pars on a rival website and pick up the details on TV etc later on.
On top of that, when major events occur, people tend to surf from site to site, social network to social network, and piece different bits of the story together themselves.
While it sound ideal to have it all in one place from a ‘trusted’ source such as a newspaper, the reality is that they can’t usually keep up with the sheer volume of information being shared by the public, and even official sources using their own social media channels, so it quickly becomes outdated and not worth paying for.
Any form of paywall on a regional news website will never work.
Nationally, the only arguable paywall successes focus on niche content like the FT or exclusive premium content like the Sun (Premier League video clips).
The last time I looked, no local newspaper would be able to deliver either of these things on a regular basis, nor would they have the sheer volume of readers willing to pay that it would take to make it profitable.
Report this comment
@Oliver – finally someone who talks sense
The key to that is you mentioning how people behave online.
We have to understand brilliantly how people are using our digital products and if not, why not?
Once we have them on site though we have to do everything we can to keep them there – and that’s where we have to get clever with content and how we promote it
Analysis and comment is critical in giving people content they can’t get elsewhere, and finding different ways to tell stories that make the consumption easier for the users
Will people pay – 99.99% no – but that doesn’t mean there isn’t money in it
Report this comment
The EggMan, thanks for your reply, though the snarky final line does not reflect well on you.
Anyway, what I was after was examples of digital initiatives that have been proven (backed up with cold, hard numbers) to have generated significant revenue. Not hits/page impressions, I mean money. None of the points you made addressed this. I don’t think that is much to ask given the amount of time and resources that have been spent by the industry chasing this holy grail.
Report this comment
@Kendo I wasn’t intending to be snarky, I genuinely find it difficult to believe that people with an interest in the media industry do not see some of the brilliant things being done on a daily basis.
You know I can’t go into specifics about financials but just look at a few things……
Digital revenues are increasing – this is a fact, WalesOnline have long since crossed the line where money from digital makes up for the loss in print – a huge success. Many others are heading in this direction.
Then there are the one offs you see, data driven school reports, football specials, what’s on guides – these are all getting sponsored for good revenue
The more we content we produce that is actually relevant to our audience the more money we will continue to make
Do you know what we have not laid the golden egg yet, but there are some pretty nice ones being laid.
What we can’t do it sit about and give things up as a bad job – it’s not.
There is a future – and it doesn’t leave you with print on your fingers!
Report this comment
Ok, KN, here’s a stat for you – programmatic advertising means every time a piece of content is uploaded to a news site using it, the media organisation makes money. In the same way money is made every time a 10×4 is sold in the paper, it depends on the price set but cold hard cash changes hands. If you want rate cards for digital display advertising, I suggest there are better places to look than the comments chain of HTFP.
God, the doom mongering on the site is depressing.
Report this comment
You know what, i’ll just go to the local pubs to get all the gossip/news instead now!
Report this comment
If a fruiterer offered oranges at the going rate when bought from his fruit stall, but made it known they could be obtained free off his website, there’s a good chance his stall sales would dip disastrously.
This does not take a lot to work out, even for people like me with a sub-130 IQ.
Why do newspapers opt to offer two mutually inimical choices in the hope of making money from one or the other when all the evidence suggests otherwise?
Private Eye has proved that sticking with print can pay off. There are strong signs that books are beating off the digital alternatives. I once edited a paper with no website and we showed impressive circulation gains thanks to – guess what? – compelling, unmissable stories.
I’ve yet to hear a newspaper boss give a credible reason for running print and digital operations in tandem.
Report this comment
Yes Adrian and you will be paying £4 a pint for the privilege of hearing ill-informed tittle tattle when you could spend a mere £1 a week on reading the stories of people who work very hard at getting the facts for their readers. People possibly won’t pay up but they should. And people will ultimately get the local news service they deserve.
Report this comment
Hi Lay. To continue with the orange analogy, if the stallholder didn’t have a website but his competitor did and decided to give away oranges for free then, once again, he would be out of business
Truth of the matter is people don’t want to pay for a commodity they can get free elsewhere and the same applies with news.
Private Eye is a pretty specific publication with little competition in that line so can afford to push thinags a bit more
News and sport in particular are so readily available online it is difficult to stand out. Those who do, with unique content with thrive. The rest may as well be selling oranges
Report this comment
Applepip (etc).
The digital experience (even when free) can be most unsatisfactory.
Very quickly after identifying and opening up a story on the This Is series of websites, your screen is virtually filled with a pop-up advertisement. In some recent cases, there has been no ‘X’ to click to get ride of the ad.
Of course, I recognise that adverts produce the necessary revenue, but at least in a hard copy newspaper you can be selective as to which ads you choose to look at. No choice on screen.
Report this comment
You can never be sure, but Egg Man seems to know something about what he is talking about. Is this allowed?
Report this comment
I sincerely hope this leap of faith pays off for the Echo. It is a decent paper that employs some great journalists. It’d be a shame if being a bit bold gets them nowhere.
Report this comment
The sad facts are:
People will not pay for local news on the web because they are used to getting it free. It’s just not worth paying for it now, it’s not that important to them, they can pick up bits and pieces here and there on other websites and social media platforms and that satisfies their appetites.
Local news is dull – because that’s how it’s presented, because the PEOPLE employed at newspapers (many of them still trying to get their head around the web) are too long in the tooth, in the main.
Staffs have been cut down to the bare bones and those with anything about them have left. The future is only bright if media groups (let’s not call them newspapers, that mode of information is out of fashion) employ people who are capable of what journalism should be about – getting exclusives and holding people to account. Why pay money for regurgitated press releases? Wake up and smell the P45s.
Sorry for being a doom-monger but I can’t see a way back unless the whole culture changes, and I don’t think the people exist in newspapers to do this. After all they’ve been trying for over a decade with still no clue…
Report this comment
Meteorite, you’ve absolutely nailed it on the head.
Report this comment
Having had it for free for such a long time, can’t think people will want to pay for regional news. They will simply switch on the radio for local news.
Report this comment
Meteorite. cut out the ageism, even though I am under 50. Some oldies love the immediacy of the web. What they can’t stand is having to do both at once, web and paper.
On my girlfriend’s paper who was it that got out at 3am to shoot video and stills at big fire before the rest of the staff even knew about it and loaded on web before the kids in the office had even had breakfast. The 58 year-old. Plenty of useless lazy youngsters still in the industry and most cannot write decent English.
Report this comment
If digital we’re going to work it would have by now. It simply doesn’t make any money. It may save print and distrubition costs but advertisers hate it so what’s the point? Why would any small local business advertise on a site that will be viewed mostly on a very small phone screen?! Advertisers complained when broadsheets went tabloid there’s no way they’ll go for micro ads on an iPhone. EgMan…are you Ashley. Hghfield in disguise???
Report this comment
spotted by my pal down south.
Man falls off bike. on local web.Vraiment! Now I would pay for that.
Report this comment
Scribbler, no ageism intended, it’s just a fact that the future lies in the hands of younger people and as you rightly say, so many of them, sadly, are useless. Poor training, lack of talent, incapable of anything else in life, whatever (have you noticed how socially inept so many younger ones are these days in journalism?! It’s crucial to the job to get on with people! Anyway…) There are good people still in the game, of all ages, but sadly far too few of them to make a difference.
Report this comment
Meteorite has a point; many of the new wave of reporters at our place (early 20s) seem incapable of the basic courtesies – ‘good morning'; ‘excuse me'; ‘thanks for that’, etc. I won’t hazard a guess as to the reasons but it doesn’t bode well for the “communications industry”.
Report this comment
Dick Minim – even more disturbing – this week the BBC interviewed some sixth form students still to pass their GCSEs. One very well-spoken young lad said he was worried that his current cramming to re-sit his GCSE English Language was affecting his final year studying an A level – in Media???
He’s worried! In a couple of years he will probably be running a subbing hub.
Report this comment