Finally. The New York Times Online will no longer require readers to subscribe to most of its content.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve googled for some news story and clicked on a promising result from the NYT Online, only to have to have my way barred by “you must be registered to view this article” or some such similar nonsense.

Under the old system, readers had to pay roughly 50 bucks a year to get their dose of the NYT online. Now they will only charge for a selection of archives between 1923 and 1986.

Reasons cited for the change? The Times thinks it can generate more revenue through advertisements on a free site than through subscription fees for online content. I think they’re right.

Vivian L. Schiller, senior vice president and general manager, said they hope to increase their reader base and take advantage of online adverstising.

“What wasn’t anticipated was the explosion in how much of our traffic would be generated by Google, by Yahoo and some others,” Ms. Schiller said.

Click here to read the official NYT announcement.

Congratulations, NYT. You just made a superfan out of me.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 10:09 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.