In September, 42 Polish news websites will begin charging for their best online content in an attempt to gain revenue despite decreases in readership, according to The Associated Press.
Poland is the third country – following Slovakia and Slovenia – to adopt the paywall model provided by Piano Media. The country represents the Slovak company’s largest market, with a population of 39 million people and about 19 million web users.
Six media publishers have joined the initiative, including two Polish-owned groups, Agora and Murator, and four foreign-owned publishers: Swiss-German Ringier Axel Springer, British Media Regionalne, German Polskapresse and Edytor, The AP reports. Gazeta Wyborcza and Forbes.pl are among the top names signed up to the initiative.
Once the paywall is launched, news consumers will be asked to pay a monthly fee ($5.80) for unlimited access to content on all participating news websites. Some content will still be free of charge to attract visitors, but only subscribers will be able to access the more “high quality” items, such as investigative pieces and political analysis.
Image from Forbes.pl homepage displaying Piano Media logo.