USA Today mulls pay wall for website

USA Today is considering putting up a pay wallꦍ and charging visitors to its site.

“We’re going to look at it,” Larry Kramer, president and publisher, s𒁃aid in a interview after his appearance at an Advertising Week panel on Wednesday.

Among the big three national newspapers, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times both have profitable pay walls erected around their digital offerings. (News Corp. owns The Postಌ and the Journal.)

USA Today has resisted the move, even though 💖all the other 81 daily papers in the Gannett chain have erected some form ofꦇ paid access.

“People ar🐼e exploring it,” Kramer said. “The question is, if we do it, what is the best way t🐠o do it.”

Kramer made his remarksꦡ just days before the steepest newsstand hike in the paper’s history is slated to go into effect on Sept. 30, when the single-copy price will rise to $2 from $1.

Circulation revenue at𝄹 USA Today fell 12 percent in the most recent quarter ending in June 30. Kramer🌸 conceded total circulation will fall with the price hike but believes the shortfall in copies sold will be more than offset by the increased revenue per copy.

USA Today, with total circulation of 1,674,306 including print a♑nd digital editions, is the third largest daily in the country, after losing its🌳 longtime number slot to the Journal in 2009.

Total circ♛ulation was dow𓄧n 7.9 percent in the most recent six-month period, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Kramer acknowledged that the pr❀ice hike — the first in nearly 6 years — will trigger another drop in circulation, especially through the iconic white boxes ꩵthe paper installed on sidewalks more than three decades ago.

“We think sales in the boxes will drop by about ♏a third,” he said but added that is only a portion of the circulati💫on.

He said the boxes will not be scrapped entirely, but they would be taken down in some areas and concentrate🤪d in high traffic areas.

“Most people are not going to have eight quarters in their pocket,” he said. He offered no breakdown on the percen🌱tage of sales currently going through the boxes.

He said some of that erosion will be of🌄fset by selling the paper in new retail outlets after hatching recent deals with Starbucks and Duane Reade.

At the same time, Kramer said that for the first time in five years, print advertising was up in the firsౠt half of the year compared to the same period a year ago.

He also said that the company is engaged in a test, dubbed Project Butterfꦓly, which will send more USA Today content to other Gannet-owned papers.

A USA Today branded section containing dispatches from the News, Life and Money sections will run as a stand-alone section inside dailies in four ci🎉tes: Indianapolis, Rochester, NY, Fort Myers,🐻 Fla., and Appleton, Wis.

The USA Sports section will run inಌdependently in each paper’s sports section.

With pr𝔉int in decline, USA Today Editor-in-chief David Callaway said he has already moved to a digital-first sensibility with the first story meeting of the day starting at 8:30 in the morning.

“The biggest thing now is the growth of the mobile business,” he said. “Sixty percent of our digital traffic, as measured by page views, is from mobile platforms — either tablets or smart 🎃phones.”

USA Today’s web site draws 8 million to 9 million unique visitors a day, or 70 milli🍷on unique visitors a month.

“The audience has already gone from web to mobile,” he said. “It’s caused us to rethink how we do newsꦅ.”

Neverth▨eless, Kramer sai𓄧d the paper has no intention of abandoning print.

“While digital is great for putting you in touch with things you already want, I think print is still a great vehicle🐼 for discovery advertisin𒀰g,” he said.

“You don’t know𝄹 you want it until yo𝐆u see it on the page of a newspaper or a tablet.”