Earlier this week, The Street, an independent digital financial media company, announced that it is opening up its Real Money market commentary subscription service to all readers by replacing its “hard” paywall with a metered paywall. Readers can now access eight free articles per month, including original content from Jim Cramer, who posts three original articles each trading day, before hitting the paywall.At that point, readers must subscribe to access additional content. They can choose between two digital subscription packages: Real Money and Real Money Pro. Real Money gives subscribers unlimited web access via smartphone apps for $3 per week. Real Money Pro subscribers includes unlimited content as well as daily trading tips from Doug Kass, a well-known hedge fund investor, and other investing and trading tips for $16 per week. Both packages come with a two-week free trial, and a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.In a press release about the change, Erwin Eichmann, Chief Business Officer of The Street, said, “The freemium model for online subscription services is both well-established and profitable. The more readers consume our product, the more likely they are to subscribe. Real Money’s metered paywall will make our content easier to sample, and if readers try it, we know that they will like it.”Insider Take:Other media outlets like The New York Times and the Washington Post have been successful with metered paywalls, while others like the Toronto Star have abandoned their paywalls altogether, so it is difficult to predict whether or not The Street will be successful. However, we agree with Talking New Media’s analysis of the change in that the metered paywall will give access to more readers. By providing samples of its wares, The Street can get in front of a larger pool of potential subscribers.We think it will be critical for The Street to promote this change beyond a press release, and it will need to follow industry best practices to convert new readers to subscribers. {Subscription Insider members can access our How To and Best Practices guides here.} From a quick review of The Street’s website, it does not look like they are taking advantage of potential opportunities to share the good news.The only mention of subscriptions is a red button on the far right of menu bar. From there, a box with 15 subscription options appears, including Subscription Bundles which are not consistent with the press release.
Clicking through to “Compare All Subscription Services,” a page with more several dozen options appears with the Real Money and Real Money Pro options buried in the middle.
{Note: The screen capture above only displays about 1/3 of the subscription page. In this section, no prices are given. Website visitors must scroll down to see pricing for the 12 subscription packages ranging in price from $1/week to $16/week.}To convert new readers, we recommend that this page be simplified. As it stands now, the information is overwhelming and difficult to decipher. A new visitor to the website would have no idea that they can now read eight articles per month for free or that there are two subscription packages that give them unlimited access. The Street has a great opportunity to expand readership with the metered paywall, but we think it needs to simplify and clarify before it will be successful.
