All Things D
Time is making it easier for readers to subscribe to its digital and print editions, and making it harder for non-subscribers to read the magazine online, reports Peter Kafka. He adds that “it’s likely that the vast majority of Time.com’s visits and page views come from stuff that isn’t in the magazine, and that will continue to be free, so most site visitors may not notice any change at all.”
New subscribers have these three options to read Time content:
* Subscribe to TIME “All Access” for $30/year and receive 56 print issues, full online access and all tablet apps
* Sign up for a 1-week short term pass to access magazine content on TIME.com for $4.99/week
* Sign up for a $2.99/month “All Access” subscription. Each month readers get all of the print editions of TIME, the tablet editions and access to magazine content on TIME.com. This subscription can be cancelled anytime.
Press release
TIME LAUNCHES “ALL ACCESS”
Readers Will Now Pay A One-Time Subscription Fee To Get the Print Edition
Plus Access to Tablet Apps and the New Magazine Channel On TIME.com
(New York, July 19, 2011)—TIME announced today that, starting this week, subscribers will now pay one price for an “All Access” subscription to TIME magazine content wherever they want to read it: in print, online and on tablet apps. This subscription model rewards loyal customers with more choice and quality at no additional cost.
With TIME’s “All Access,” current subscribers to TIME will continue to receive the print magazine, plus have access to a new paid magazine channel on TIME.com and be able to download their issues on Apple iPad, HP Touchpad and Samsung Galaxy Tab. The TIME.com magazine channel will be a paid section of the website that will contain all new magazine content on an ongoing basis beginning with this week’s issue. Subscribers will activate their “All Access” accounts using their existing magazine account number or mailing address.
New subscribers will have three options to access TIME magazine content:
1. Subscribe to TIME “All Access” for $30/year and receive 56 print issues, full online access and all tablet apps
2. Sign up for a 1-week short term pass to access magazine content on TIME.com for $4.99/week
3. Sign up for a $2.99/month “All Access” subscription. Each month readers get all of the print editions of TIME, the tablet editions and access to magazine content on TIME.com. This subscription can be cancelled anytime.
The new magazine channel on TIME.com is one of a series of new content verticals the site has launched in the past year and a half, including Newsfeed, Swampland, Lightbox, Techland, Healthland and MoneyLand. TIME.com has 95% original content separate and distinct from magazine content and has broken multiple traffic records in 2011. In June, the site had 93 million pages views, up 31% year over year, and 11.3 million unique visitors, up 27% year over year, according to comScore. TIME is up in ad pages and revenue for the first six months of the year, up 8.1% in pages and 11.2% in revenue. TIME is the #1 magazine brand on Twitter with more than 2.6 million followers.
TIME is the second Time Inc. title to launch a subscription plan allowing consumers to pay once and access their content across multiple platforms. Sports Illustrated announced a similar “All Access” plan in February 2011.
