CNN.com, nearly three decades after its official launch, is constructing its first paywall for its website that will require visitors to pay $3.99 for full access.
“Starting today, we are asking users in the United States to pay a small recurring fee for unlimited access to CNN.com’s world-class articles,” Alex MacCallum, CNN’s executive vice president of digital products and services, wrote Tuesday in an internal memo outlining the plan.
The paywall will not pop up for occasional visitors to the site, which draws about 150 million unique visitors a month and is one of the most popular news sites in the world.
CNN’s move is part of new CEO Mark Thompson’s efforts to generate fresh sources of income for CNN, which has relied heavily on subscription fees from cable operators that are rapidly losing users to streaming services. Thompson first made a reference about a CNN.com subscription in a memo over the summer to staff outlining his future vision for the news operation.
“Only after users consume a certain number of free articles will they be prompted to subscribe,” MacCallum said. “In addition to unlimited access to CNN.com’s articles, subscribers will receive benefits like exclusive election features, original documentaries, a curated daily selection of our most distinctive journalism and fewer digital ads.”
Besides the $3.99 a month option, there is a discounted $29.99 annual plan. CNN did not specify how many articles over what period of time a reader can access before the paywall goes up.
Not everything will be behind the paywall, as some videos, breaking news stories and interactive content will be excluded for now.
MacCallum said CNN will add new offerings over time and build “new capabilities in product, engineering, data and subscriptions, and evolve how we work.”
Both MacCallum and Thompson came from The New York Times, which has become a successful and profitable subscription-based model with more than 10.2 million digital subscribers, goosed by its sports, cooking, shopping and gaming offshoots.
Most of CNN.com’s core digital operations are based out of Atlanta’s Midtown studios. Earlier this year, CNN laid off 100 people as the organization shifts to a more digital-oriented organization.
Paywalls have become more common on news sites in recent years. A new study by Reuters found that 21% of Americans sampled have paid for a news subscription in the past year.
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