By: Elizabeth Coffey, Marketing G2 Digital Marketing Specialist

The news industry has been searching for new ways to monetize their content now that ad revenue is in decline. Pivoting to video (unfortunately) didn’t work and was really just a Band-Aid for an industry that was and is hemorrhaging money to the point of financial instability.

News media organizations are now looking to subscriptions and reader revenue to put them back in the black. Some are turning to pop-ups, paywalls, and other gating methods to encourage memberships as well as drive newsletter and subscription sign-ups. Below are other great reasons to gate your content.

1. Gathering data – Data is the most valuable commodity in today’s marketplace. Getting information about your users can help you market your content more effectively to your audience as well as make you more attractive to advertisers.


2. Coming across as premium or exclusive – A gate can increase the perceived quality and value of your existing content. Paying for something makes people attach more value to it than if they got the same item or service for free. Even if people are ‘paying’ with their contact information or demographic details, they will attribute more value to your content and see it as more authoritative than if they were just able to read it without going through a content gate.


3. Measuring audience interest in your content – By gating your content, you can get a more accurate picture of just how much readers want to view and consume your content. You can also A/B test your paywall messages to see what drives more engagement.

What are you doing to drive reader revenue?