New York Times reduces free article limit to five per month
The previous limit was 10 for those who didn't have a subscription.
Back in 2011, The New York Times made a decision to limit the number of free articles any given user could read a month. After 20 articles, people without subscriptions would hit a paywall. That was reduced to 10 articles in 2012. Now, according to Bloomberg, the Times is reducing that number to just five articles per month.
The logic makes sense: We're living in a time where the news cycle is faster than ever, and there are multiple breaking news headlines on any given day. While the Times might lose out on some web traffic, the decision makers at the company are betting that the decline will be offset by an uptick in paid subscriptions. A Times subscription starts at $15 per month, which grants access to all articles on the website and news apps.
Update: We previously stated that the Times paywall launched in 2012 with 10 free articles. We've corrected this article to reflect that it originally launched in 2011 with 20 free articles. The number was reduced to 10 one year later.
