Reuters to adopt paywall

Reuters on Thursday unveiled a new strategy that includes a paywall for a revamped website and plans to attract customers via detailed coverage in content areas devoted to legal, sustainability, health care and automotive industry issues.

Reuters.com will remain free for a preview period the company said, and after viewing five stories users will have to register for access and pay $34.99 per month. The company has not announced when the paywall will be activated. 

Enacting the paywall and the website redesign mark “the largest digital transformation at Reuters in a decade,” Reuters’s Chief Marketing Officer and head of Reuters Professional Josh London said in a statement.

In addition to website verticals, the company said it will also court professionals as customers by producing live events and providing content via newsletters, and channels on streaming TV services. 

Over the past few years, subscriptions have become an increasingly popular revenue raising option for both legacy media companies and startups.  

Users must pay $34.99 per month to access the website of Reuters competitor Bloomberg.com and $38.99 for the Wall Street Journal, the Reuters article noted. In mid-March, news and politics focused website Mediaite also enacted a paywall.

Media startups The Information and The Athletic were founded on subscription models and recently, executives from The Hive, The Athletic, and podcast company Luminary announced they were forming a new subscription-based media company.

Separately, on Monday, Reuters announced that global news editor Alessandra Galloni, was being promoted to editor-in-chief, becoming the first woman to hold that position.