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Friday 28th April: Time to remove digital paywall
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Axios is reporting that Time magazine will remove its paywall in June. With 1.3 million print subscribers and 250,000 digital subscribers, content from Time's magazine and website will now be free, including 100 years' worth of archived content. CEO Jessica Sibley says the move is both an editorial and a business decision.
The plan is to produce more ad-supported, digital content across Time's website, mobile app and social media. Sibley told Axios: "The opportunity to reach more audiences globally, that are younger, and that are diverse, is really important to Sam and myself." Sam Jacobs recently replaced Edward Felthensal as editor in chief, the youngest in Time's history.
Increasing the reach of the Time brand is a key focus in growing Time's business globally, especially across events. Dropping the paywall removes any friction that would prevent Time from expanding its audience, proving again that there is no one-size-fits-all model for modern publishers.
We are delighted to report that our friends at Di5rupt, the B2B media intelligence and connections network, and our friends at media news site What’s New in Publishing are joining forces. In an undisclosed deal, Di5rupt has acquired WNIP to add a digital platform to its events programme to engage its audience throughout the year. Congratulations to all involved.
FIPP has published the latest issue of its Global Media DEI Tracker, a monthly roundup of the efforts media owners around the world are making to support Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. FIPP is inviting publishers to share what they are doing to support DEI, saying: "By sharing ideas, we can make the biggest impact, and move beyond quotas and value statements to make our industry truly accessible." Amen to that.
Vice News is to “streamline” its operations resulting in “painful but necessary” job cuts across its global news team. Vice Media Group chief executives Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala cited “current market conditions and business realities”. And Paper, the magazine that broke the internet in 2014 with a cover shot of Kim Kardashian's bottom, is another victim of the economic downturn; the music and pop culture publisher will layoff 20 to 30 staff today.
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