Two years back The New York Times began a subscription program called Times Select in which access to some parts of the online site was restricted to subscribers. Besides stopping this program, the newspaper is also giving free access to the archives from 1987 to present.
What changed, The Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search engines and links on other sites instead of coming directly to NYTimes.com. These indirect readers, unable to get access to articles behind the pay wall and less likely to pay subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, were seen as opportunities for more page views and increased advertising revenue.
“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. [Times to Stop Charging for Parts of Its Web Site]
This means that we can get our regular dose of Friedmanism for free from Tuesday.
