Telegraph Axes Metered Paywall and Launches Premium Subscription Service

By Mark Sweney

Telegraph Media Group is dumping its metered paywall to make the majority of its online output free alongside a new premium subscription service offering exclusive members-only content.

The new digital subscription service, Telegraph Premium, will cost between £2 and £6 a week for extras including a “premium digital edition of the newspaper for tablet or smartphone”.

For £10 a week subscribers can also get the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph and the top package, at £11, offers the full bundle of digital access, digital editions and print editions.

The publisher says the new subscription service will provide a “world of specially curated, subscriber-only content and exclusive experiences” featuring “interviews, opinion pieces, features and some of your favourite Telegraph writers”.

“As we move into the future, we will continue to offer a huge range of open, quality content but Telegraph Premium allows us to place a value on some of our most unique, in-depth and insightful journalism, offering compelling analysis from the most authoritative writers,” said the Daily Telegraph editor, Chris Evans.

The company said the new strategy will mean that most of the content on Telegraph.co.uk will now be free, replacing its metered paywall model, with a “significant” number of stories and features only available to subscribers to the premium service.

Breaking news, live sport and a “wide range” of entertainment, social, media, travel, lifestyle and culture will remain free to access.

“The launch of Telegraph Premium has significant benefits for all areas of our business,” said Robert Bridge, chief customer officer at Telegraph Media Group, parent of the Telegraph. “ It will drive new subscription revenue and enhance our advertising and commerce offerings by having a permanently free layer of content.”

Read the full article on The Guardian

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