View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Publishers
  2. Digital Journalism
August 17, 2010updated 23 Aug 2022 7:23pm

Times websites get ‘1.6m users behind paywall’

By Oliver Luft

The websites of The Times and the Sunday Times newspapers have retained 1.6m users since parent company News International introduced a paywall early last month, according to web metrics company Comscore.

The number of users accessing thetimes.co.uk and thesundaytimes.co.uk almost halved since they launched in May as free-to-access websites, according to data released today.

Figures from Comscore suggest a combined total of 1.614m users visited the sites in July – a drop of 42 per cent from the 2.794m that accessed the sites in May prior to the introduction of paid-for access.

The number of pages viewed also dropped from 29m in May to nine million in July – a fall of 68.6 per cent, the figures suggest.

In addition, the time spent on the site by the average user fell from 7.6 minutes in May to four minutes by July – a drop of 46.8 per cent.

News International launched new websites for The Times and Sunday Times in May ahead of the introduction of a paywall on 2 July.

Once paid-for access was adopted News International ran an introductory offer which allowed 30 days access to both sites for £1.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

The normal subscription rate for the sites is £1 for 24 hours access or £2 for one week’s access, however seven-day subscribers to the print editions of The Times and The Sunday Times are entitled to a free website subscription.

Over the same May to July period, the data shows that overall UK newspaper websites lost total audience of 0.3 per cent.

According to Comscore: Mail Online’s audience shrank by 2.9 per cent over the period, while Guardian.co.uk lost 13.3 per cent of its readers, The Sun lost 2.4 per cent and Telegraph.co.uk lost 14.6 per cent.

Comscore claims to chart the behaviour of more than two million web users worldwide.

The traffic figures it supplied differ markedly to earlier assessments of how well the Times websites have performed since the paywall was introduced.

Last month, figures from Hitwise suggested two thirds of its online audience ‘visits’ had been lost following the introduction of the paywall.

Media blogger and former Times media editor Dan Sabbagh has claimed that 150,000 readers registered for the free trail period and just 15,000 had agreed to pay.

News International, which withdrew The Times and The Sunday Times from the Audit Bureau of Circulation’s online measurement system ahead of its paywall introduction, declined to comment on the Comscore figures.

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network