Telegraph.co.uk imposes paywall for non-UK readers

The Daily Telegraph's website has today launched a new digital paywall for non-UK users, as part of plans to make more money from digital journalism.



Using a similar model to The New York Times, The Telegraph has now imposed a metered payment system for overseas users, charging them a monthly fee after they view a certain amount of free pages. The site will remain free for UK users.

According to a press release, The Telegraph said that it is building on its "strong international presence" by launching two subscription packages.

Non-UK users will be able to view 20 free pages every month, but then they will be charged £1.99 a month for access to The Telegraph website and mobile apps, or £9.99 for the "full digital pack", which also includes both the daily and Sunday editions on iPad.

Overseas readers will be offered a free one-month trial before they are asked to commit to a subscription package.

"As a global brand, The Telegraph now plans to develop a closer relationship with its readers around the world," Telegraph Media Group said in a statement.

"From November 1, The Telegraph is extending its subscriber offer to its international website readers by adopting a metering approach similar to the model currently used by the New York Times."

The TMG executive editor of digital, Edward Roussel, added in a statement: "Telegraph writers include many of the world's finest journalists on areas such as politics, international affairs, sport and business.

"There is a growing global demand for first-class journalism. The Telegraph already has a strong subscriber base of loyal readers in the UK. Our subscription model is now being extended globally."

According to official figures, Telegraph.co.uk is the third most popular newspaper website in the UK, behind guardian.co.uk and Mail Online. The site had 2.7m daily browsers in October, and attracts more than 50m browsers a month.

Newspapers have been working to unlock new ways to make money from their online journalism and content.

The Independent has already experimented with a similar metered paywall to The Telegraph in the US and Canada. But Journalism.co.uk claims that this had "not delivered on the ambitions from a revenue standpoint".

After a year trialling the feature, the Independent has said it was reviewing the model "with the most likely outcome of removing it".

Please note there is absolutely no connection between the Daily Telegraph and the Coventry Telegraph which is unaffected by this move.