Abstract

How audiences behave behind newspaper paywalls is, in research, almost unknown territory. In editorial offices, however, this has become common knowledge, since traffic data is available around the clock. In this study, we have had the opportunity to study how subscribers with different degrees of subscription experience behave behind the paywall. In the analysis, we use traffic data generated from tracking scripts and stored in Amazon Redshift. The results are unambiguous. Readers with a paid subscription show a higher degree of activity, greater involvement, and more varied usage than do newly added readers with a free subscription, independent of age. Following subscribers with free subscriptions over time shows that their behaviour mainly is negative, with an overall lower degree of activity. Young subscribers with short-term accounts show the lowest degree of activity, independent of the measurement used. Implications of the results are discussed.

摘要

在研究中，读者如何在报纸付费墙后面举止几乎是未知的领域。然而，在编辑室中，这已经成为常识，因为交通数据是全天候可用的。在这项研究中，我们有机会研究了不同程度的订阅体验的订户如何在付费墙后面表现。在分析中，我们使用从跟踪脚本生成并存储在Amazon Redshift中的流量数据。结果是明确的。付费订阅的读者表现出更高的活动度，更大的参与度和更多的使用方式，而新订阅的付费订阅者则不受年龄限制。随时间推移而订阅者获得免费订阅的情况表明，他们的行为主要是负面的，活动程度总体较低。拥有短期帐户的年轻订户的活动程度最低，与所使用的度量方式无关。讨论了结果的含义。