Print Media Online: NYT is the Leader

Except for the fact they have not been able to sufficiently monetize their content online, many print publications are attracting substantial traffic to their websites. Seeking Alpha has released a list of the “top ten” print sites for April, with The New York Times leading the pack.

These ten sites account for almost a quarter (24.72 percent) of all traffic to the universe of U.S. print publication websites. Six are newspapers, but four of the top five are magazines, and no other newspaper outside of The Times (4.64 percent) has a market reach of 2 percent.

For those caught up in the flurry of discussion of paid content vs. free, it is noteworthy that The Times attracts about three and a half times as much traffic as the Wall Street Journal. The Times’ position as category leader would almost certainly be threatened if it follows through on recent vows to start charging for its content — unless, of course, it makes its move as part of a coordinated industry shift in strategy.

In the current environment, where only the WSJ hides content behind a paywall, many sites, including The Times, use the free-registration conceit to collect a bit of information on its readers. Of course, web-savvy users know that to get around either a paywall or a free-reg requirement — you usually simply need to go to Google, enter the headline of the article (which is always readily available before the restrictions kick in), and presto! You have it in all of its pure, free, naked glory.

Rather than playing around with new restrictions on user access to its content, it seems to me The Times should be aggressively positioning sponsored links, e-commerce opportunities, and other useful financial tools within and juxtaposed to its content, like music and book reviews; software product stories, and coverage of iPhone and other smartphone models and apps.

In other words, with so much money left on the table with its free content model, it’s at best premature to slink behind a paywall. Just my two cents, FWIW, and BTW, that’s for free.