Scotsman goes behind metered paywall

The Scotsman has gone behind a paywall three months after publisher JPI Media said it would trial subscriptions in the face of falling ad revenues.

Readers are allowed to access five articles for free each week or pay £3 for the first three months when they subscribe, rising to £8 a month thereafter or £72 for an annual subscription.

Scotsman editor Frank O’Donnell revealed the change in a letter to readers today. He said “quality journalism costs money” and that the new subscription model would mean fewer ads on the Scotsman website.

O’Donnell added: “We love providing you with the news and we trust that you want to stay on this journey with us.

“But quality journalism costs money and so today we are calling on the support of our loyal readers to sustain this by subscribing to our scotsman.com website.

“Our new subscription is focused on helping you stay in the know and to have an enhanced and more enjoyable online experience. This means fewer advertisements, access to our newsletters and free access to the app version of The Scotsman.”

He added that financial support from readers meant The Scotsman could “continue to focus more on the news you want to read about and report more on the issues that matter to you”.

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A JPI Media spokesperson said: “We are currently focused on understanding the propensity for users to subscribe. The results will help define what our subscription strategy should be across the rest of the business.”

Press Gazette first revealed in March that JPI Media was considering rolling out paywalls to some titles. Paywalls have already gone live on JPI Media regional dailies the Blackpool Gazette and Portsmouth News.

Picture: The Scotsman