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Home Front: Culture Wars
After Three Months, Only 35 Subscriptions for Newsday's Web Site
2010-01-27
In late October, Newsday, the Long Island daily that the Dolans bought for $650 million, put its web site, newsday.com, behind a pay wall. The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take the plunge by putting up a pay wall, so in media circles it has been followed with interest. Could its fate be a sign of what others, including The New York Times, might expect?
Magic Eight Ball sez: "It is quite possible"...
So, three months later, how many people have signed up to pay $5 a week, or $260 a year, to get unfettered access to newsday.com?

The answer: 35 people. As in fewer than three dozen. As in a decent-sized elementary-school class.
Posted by:Fred

#7  no, but apparently 99,965 balked at paying
Posted by: Frank G   2010-01-27 19:43  

#6  and wasn't it Newsday that cooked the circulation numbers by 100,000 some time ago ??
Posted by: Tom- Pa   2010-01-27 19:28  

#5  It's almost too good to check, but it turns out that the paid option is for people who don't have HBO locally to Long Island or a Newsday subscription. So it's for non-locals and folks off the grid. Since Newsday is no longer a paper with international or even national aspirations, this is more about the guys in the bullpen pissed about becoming a local paper of no greater importance than anything else.
Posted by: Mitch H.   2010-01-27 11:17  

#4  33 of the 35 are Ellie Light
Posted by: Frank G   2010-01-27 09:21  

#3  Hilarious. When I was blogging a lot--at my peak--I had a few more than 35 regular readers. And I was a NOBODY.

They might as well save overhead and startup newsday.blogspot.com.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats   2010-01-27 08:58  

#2  Dunno which sucks worse:

The .2 percent ROI to date or the $4 million price tag for a web site redesign.
Posted by: badanov   2010-01-27 00:17  

#1  hee hee hee...
and .... let me guess...
they all work for or are relatives of the owners of the paper?
Posted by: 3dc   2010-01-27 00:10  

00:00