Web users avoid Times paywall

Back in March when media oligarch Rupert Murdoch announced that internet users were going to have to pay to see content beyond the homepage of thetimes.co.uk you can imagine the collective clink of champagne glasses from competitors like the Guardian and the Telegraph.

With the print industry in free fall, Murdoch's paywall was created as a means of capitalising on a small number of loyal Times readers despite the majority of the site's 20 million monthly site visitors being potentially alienated in the process.

Unphased by an almost guaranteed decline in traffic, Murdoch and co bulldozed ahead regardless and from the start of this month visitors have had to cough up denominations of £1-a-day or £2-a-week to view the newspaper's digital edition.

Although the Times are said to be 'encouraged' by numbers of readers who have signed up, a PCUK / Harris Poll suggested that the majority of people were less than enamoured with the idea.

A staggering 76% of people answered 'not at all likely' when asked whether they would pay to read the Times online while a paltry 6% said they were 'extremely likely' to buy into the paywall scheme.

Rupert Murdoch may have redefined and monopolised the media during the glory days of print but in an era where people are conditioned to expect web-based information and opinion to be free, the chances of them turning heel on this mindset overnight is highly unlikely.

The number of failed web subscription schemes set up by other magazines and newspapers is proof enough.

Furthermore, the Times could inadvertently be harming the quality of its content with PR experts viewing the paywall as a deterrent when trying to get coverage for a story; less stories means fewer SERPs, especially for niche or 'exclusive' articles. 

The paywall might be an ambitious route around falling revenue and in-paper advertising but in a day and age led by the demands of generation Y – under 25s who believe everything in life should be free apparently – as well as stiff competitive from paywall-free competitors, Murdoch could well have missed the mark by quite a bit on this one.