Advertisers pulling out of Times following paywall implementation

By Steve Safran 

There is mounting evidence that putting up a paywall is bad for business. That’s not much of a surprise to most people, but London’s The Times is – for now – sticking with its paywall. The paper implemented the paywall in early July, and traffic has plummeted to 10% of what it was. Unsurprisingly, advertisers are simply abandoning the site. Rob Lynam, the head of a British media buying agency, tells The Independent “We are just not advertising on it. If there’s no traffic on there, there’s no point in advertising on there.” In fact, the article is rich with quotes from people in the ad buying industry. Most telling is this:

(Lynam) warns that newspaper organizations have less muscle in internet advertising campaigns than they do in print. “Online, we have far more options than just newspaper websites – it’s not a huge loss to anyone really. If we are considering using some newspaper websites, The Times is just not in consideration.”

Rupert Murdoch owns The Times, and is standing fast on his demand to keep up the paywall. But, as anyone can see, it’s bad for business. People aren’t buying enough online subscriptions to sustain a business and the media buyers are simply taking their business elsewhere. (It should be noted that The Independent is a competitor to The Times.)

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