About this episode

This episode discusses a local news publisher successfully generating reader revenue without a traditional paywall by using a registration step and community perks.

A local news publisher with no paid paywall is still pulling reader revenue, and it's working. In this episode, Pete and Tyler break down an incognito digital-only publisher (about 60k monthly visitors, per Similar Web) running a model that ignores the usual playbook. There's no hard wall on the content. Everything stays free to read after a generous registration step, and the paid upgrades come from community perks instead of locked articles. If you've been nervous that putting up any kind of wall will tank your traffic, this one's a useful counter-example. It shows how to capture emails, build confidence with a wall, and turn free registered readers into paying members. Key Takeaways The generous registration wall. Readers get 3 free articles off the street. On the 4th view, a free registration wall unlocks unlimited access. That setup is hitting a 5.7% conversion rate against wall views and brought in 2,200+ registered readers in about 3 months, which Tyler says is far beyond what their old sidebar email widget ever did. The plan is to tighten the wall to two or one free article over time, and Tyler thinks conversion could roughly double when they do. Move commenting off…

People in this episode

Hosts: Pete, Tyler

Topics covered

• subscription strategy
• reader revenue
• digital publishing
• community engagement
• email capture

Keywords

• no-paywall
• reader revenue
• conversion rate
• registration wall
• digital publisher

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Similar Web

More episodes of Paywall Podcast - Subscription strategies for news and magazine publishers

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