Paywalls have been adopted by nearly 500 daily newspapers in the United States. Although many publications have had success gaining subscribers by implementing paywalls, many counter the increase in revenue will not outpace the decline in advertising dollars.

Of those publications using paywalls, most have implemented soft paywalls, allowing some, free online content to site visitors. The New York Times has become one of the most publicized examples due to its success. Since putting the paywall in place, they’ve reported more than 700,000 paid subscribers. Other papers, like The Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, have also shown increased circulation revenue through the use of a paywall.

The reported success of daily newspapers has some magazines following suit. For the first time, Esquire published a standalone article behind a paywall from its August issue. Priced at $1.99, they have reported a 3 to 4 percent purchase rate at this time.

Whether or not online subscriptions are able to keep pace with revenue dollars remains to be seen. However, paywalls are becoming commonplace in today’s market. Multipub can work with your Content Management System (CMS) to accommodate your paywall strategy. It can manage “entitlements” whether they are registration only, trial subscriptions or paid orders. Multipub also allows users to manage access to content daily or on a per article/per download basis.