Paywalls are becoming more and more common among news websites. Making user pay for online news content isn’t impossible – but remains a challenge. While many news outlets are still hesitant to charge their users, data compiled by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) show that paying for online news is quite widespread in markets such as Norway (45 %) and has also become relatively common in the US (20%).
So, which news outlets are consumers actually willing to pay for?
As our chart – based on data by FIPP and Celera One and published by Visual Capitalist – illustrates, the New York Times is still topping the list with 7.5 million paid subscribers. Interestingly, the Times saw a significant uptick in digital subscriptions after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016 and registered a particularly strong 2020. The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Game Informer and the UK’s Financial Times rank next respectively while the British Guardian, that celebrated its 200th anniversary on May, 5th 2021, counts nearly 800,000 paid subscribers.
This chart shows a ranking of the news websites with the most paid subscribers.
