Chicago Sun-Times Bitcoin Paywall Shows 25 Cents is Sweet Spot
The Chicago Sun-Times and BitWall have released new metrics regarding their 1st February bitcoin paywall test, revealing that Sun-Times readers contributed more than 700 donations to the Taproot Foundation as part of the 24-hour trial. Conducted last Saturday, the introductory partnership found the ninth-largest US newspaper teaming up with an emerging San Francisco startup as a way to explore its own monetization options. BitWall, on the other hand, received its first chance to launch a large-scale test of whether bitcoin micropayments could deliver for mainstream publishers. Speaking to....
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As planned, the Chicago Sun-Times has put in place a paywall, as originally reported in January. The paywall, which isn't much of a paywall at all, to be honest, is a 24-hour testing trial that allows users to donate bitcoin to the Taproot Foundation. Users are able to "donate" a tweet or donate bitcoins in the amount of their choosing. But a donation is not required to view Sun-Times content, at this time. San Francisco-based bitcoin paywall company BitWall is behind this, and the Sun-Times has become the start-up's biggest client thus far. The trial is designed to provide both the....
On 3rd February, the Chicago Sun-Times, in partnership with BitWall, launched an experiment to see if people were willing to pay small amounts of bitcoin for articles over a 24-hour period. This was done in the via the startup's bitcoin microtransaction paywall at which people were asked to donate coin in order to read content, as reported here. There was a social media alternative as well, which allowed readers to tweet stories instead of paying, or even leave the site altogether by clicking 'no thanks'. The Chicago Sun-Times BitWall paywall. The test run saw a total of 713 visitors....
Readers who visit the Chicago Sun-Times today will notice something they aren't likely to have seen before: a bitcoin paywall separating them from their content. The Chicago Sun-Times is the ninth-largest newspaper in the United States, and the first major US publication to trial a bitcoin paywall. Instead of paying for a subscription, as patrons of the The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times do, Chicago Sun-Times readers who visit the site on 1st February will be asked to donate bitcoin payments to the Taproot Foundation, or tweet about the nonprofit, in order to read articles. The....
Bitcoin paywall provider BitWall is partnering with the Chicago Sun-Times to conduct a 24-hour bitcoin paywall test. The experiment, the first of its kind for a major US publication, will happen on the Sun-Times website on 1st February. Readers accessing articles during this time will see an overlay "wall" before accessing an article. They will be given the option to pay to see the article with bitcoin, or to tweet the story for access. "We continue to experiment and test new technologies that we believe engage our readers and look forward to being the first major USA newspaper to test a....
A few days ago, on the first of February, the 9th largest newspaper in the United States, The Chicago Sun-Times launched a 'paywall' of sorts, allowing users to make donations to the Taproot Foundation via bitcoin, or by 'donating' a tweet. Some metrics are now available from BitWall, the west coast company that makes bitcoin paywalls that allow online media properties to monetize their content. Here's what the BitWall interface looked like on February 1st on the Sun-Times homepage: Donation Data. For starters, there were 713 bitcoin donors that day. 63 percent of donors gave about 25....