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Paywalls are largely viewed as a gamble, if not handled just right a newspaper or magazine risks losing millions of online pageviews while quite possibly alienating their user base who have come to expect their content for free, however when done correctly the results can mean guaranteed recurring capital from a set base of users, much like what the New Yorker has accomplished with their paid iPad application subscription.
The company announced this week they they have managed to attract 20,000 annual users to their iPad app, with even more free users and monthly subscribers coming on board.
According to PC Mag:
…20,000 people have purchased annual subscriptions at a yearly rate of $59.99. An additional 75,000 print subscribers have taken advantage of the option to download the iPad version of the magazine for free, and “several thousand” readers have bought individual issues for $4.99 a week. Overall, Conde says The New Yorker has 100,000 readers on the iPad.
It should be noted that unlike failures in the past such as Newsday, New York has succeeded thus far because they offer premium exclusive content for their iPad application that has been optimized to deliver the best quality output to tablet users, while also allowing for social sharing and interaction that provides an environment that users actually enjoy using.
The New Yorker iPad success could also be attributed Jonathan Schwartzman and his most excellent commercial spot:
