New York Times nears half-million online subscriber mark, halves free article allowance to celebrate

The New York Times just gave you more reason to consider making the jump to a paid online subscription -- beginning in April, that free article allowance will see a 50-percent cut, from 20 monthly articles to just 10. This modification comes one year after NYTimes.com launched its infamous content paywall, and following an announcement that the publisher has signed up 454,000 digital subscribers. Paying readers will receive a 12-week subscription that they can gift to anyone on the fence about swiping for access, and smartphone and tablet app users will continue to have access to the "Top News" sections for free. You'll also be able to read articles linked from other sites on the web, including your inbox, and can access five free posts a day that appear in search engine results. Completely unfettered access will range in price from $15 to $35 per month -- you'll find full details in the PR just past the break, and at the source link below.

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One Year after Digital Subscription Launch The New York Times Media Group Has 454,000 Paid Digital Subscribers Plus a Variety of New Digital Products and Services

NYTimes.com Pay Gate to Move to 10 Free Articles Each Month Starting in April

Existing Subscribers Invited to Gift a Complimentary 12-Week Subscription

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 20, 2012-- The New York Times Media Group announced today that as of Sunday, March 18, one year after launching paid digital subscriptions, it had approximately 454,000 paid subscribers to its various digital subscription packages, e-readers and replica editions of The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune (IHT).

The Times also announced that beginning in April it would be moving the pay gate at NYTimes.com to 10 free articles a month from 20. With this change, The Times's digital subscription plan will continue to allow for access to a generous amount of free content on the Web site and across multiple digital platforms.

In making today's announcement, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of The New York Times Company and publisher of The New York Times, said, "Last year was a transformative one for The Times as we began to charge for digital access to our content. Today, close to a half million people are now paying for digital content from The Times and the IHT. We knew that readers placed a high value on our journalism, and we anticipated they would respond positively to our digital subscription packages. Our commitment to all of our subscribers, both print and digital, is that we will continue to invest in and evolve our journalism and our products, and we will remain a source of trustworthy news, information and high-quality opinion for many years to come."

The benefits of a paid New York Times print or digital subscription have grown substantially over the past year as The Times continues to develop mobile and digital products exclusively for subscribers. Among other products, since March of 2011, The Times has launched The Collection app for iPad and the Election 2012 app for iPhone and Android devices.

Over the past year, NYTimes.com has continued to enhance and expand its scope. In recent months, the site has significantly grown its Bits blog and its Theater section. In addition, NYTimes.com continues to embrace multimedia storytelling and video. It recently launched a daily live business news video program, Business Day Live, and featured live video reports during coverage of the Super Tuesday primaries.

To mark the first anniversary, The Times will offer a special thank you gift to existing digital subscribers and home delivery subscribers who have linked their accounts for digital access. Later this month, those subscribers will be invited to give a gift of a 12-week subscription to the NYTimes.com + Smartphone Apps package to a non-subscribing friend or family member.

More details about The New York Times's digital subscriptions:

Beginning in April, all users of NYTimes.com will be able to enjoy 10 articles at no charge each month (including slideshows, videos and other forms of content). Beyond 10 articles and for unlimited access* to the site, users will be asked to become digital subscribers.

On The Times's smartphone and tablet applications, the Top News sections will remain free. To delve deeper into the apps' other sections, users will be asked to become digital subscribers.
Readers who come to Times articles through links from e-mail, search, blogs and social media will continue to be able to access those individual articles, even if they have reached their reading limit. For some search engines, users will have a daily limit of five free links to Times articles.

The Times is continuing to offer three digital subscription packages that allow users to choose the devices on which they want to access Times content. NYTimes.com will be included as part of any subscription. Details and pricing for these plans are available at http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp5558.html?campaignId=39UR4.

All New York Times home delivery newspaper subscribers continue to receive free, unlimited access* to NYTimes.com and the full content on all of The Times's applications. Home delivery subscribers can go to https://myaccount.nytimes.com/link/homedelivery to sign up for free access.

Subscribers to the print edition of the International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times, continue to receive free, unlimited access* to NYTimes.com and access to the IHT's various mobile products.

The homepage at NYTimes.com and all section fronts will remain free to browse for all users at all times.

*Mobile apps are not supported on all devices. Does not include e-reader editions, Premium Crosswords or The New York Times Crossword apps. Other restrictions apply.

For more details about The Times's digital subscriptions, go to http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp6128.html?campaignId=39UWH.