Globe and Mail incentivizes newsroom staff to get subscribers to sign up for paywall

The Globe and Mail is incentivizing newsroom staff to create content that coverts readers into paid subscribers of the newspaper’s online site.

The Globe and Mail is incentivizing newsroom staff to create content that coverts readers into paid subscribers of the newspaper’s online site.

According to Journalism.co.uk, Phillip Crawley, publisher and chief executive of the Globe, said the incentives are offered to about half a dozen people out of a newsroom of 300. “This strategy of targets and bonuses causes 'shock horror' in the industry, Crawley acknowledged, but is necessary to drive forward the business,” Journalism.co.uk reported.

The Globe went behind a paywall last fall and roughly two-thirds of its 100,000 Globe Unlimited subscribers are print subscribers who get free access online. 


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The newspaper s targeting "a high-end market” and is ”only interested in readers who earn more than $100,000," Crawley said. A lot of resources are "wasted money” as 40 per cent of content produced by the Globe is read by fewer than 1,000 people, Journalism.co.uk reported.

The newspaper is also launching an eight-minute morning video show, focusing on news, business and lifestyle.