Mass. Market
Jon Chesto points out that unlike nearly every other paper in Massachusetts, the Sunday Boston Globe actually gained circulation during the past six months. He suspects one reason for this is the Globe’s paywall pricing structure: The Globe told readers they’d need to start paying a $4 weekly fee to join BostonGlobe.com.
This digital subscription is being made available for free to all Globe print subscribers – even those who just subscribe to the Sunday paper. And guess what? That $3.50 weekly charge for Sunday-only delivery, plus online access, (or $1.75 for a few weeks if you take advantage of the paper’s new subscriber promotion) is actually less than the $4 weekly cost for online access to BostonGlobe.com alone.
My guess is that there were a number of readers who still wanted full online access and figured it made sense to subscribe to the Sunday Globe to continue that access – and get the Sunday paper on top of it.
Chesto predicts the Globe’s Sunday print circulation will continue to rise — “probably even stronger than in the past six months … but at some point, it’s likely this growth will level off after most of the loyal readers currently making the transition to a paying digital model are done with the switch.” || Earlier: NYT circulation grows after it starts charging for web access. || Chicago Tribune Sunday circulation grows, thanks in part to Groupon deal.
