Former Citizen-Times publisher on effect of putting up an online pay wall: Better than our expectations, and where the industry is headed

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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What effect would a pay wall have on the Asheville Citizen-Times? The newspaper’s former publisher, Jeff Green, sends along the following comment. Green is now president and publisher of the Winston-Salem Journal:

We are the largest paper in NC to do this so far. We used Press+, a company that uses a metered approach which allows continued free access for occasional users, but asks heavy users to pay. We also offer free access to 7 day print subscribers. In about six weeks we have signed up just under 1,700 digital subscribers and have seen our unique visitors drop by less than 10%. Better than our expectations and where the industry is going in the future. Free on the web is not a sustainable model in today’s advertising climate.