News companies reverse course on hard subscriptions

News companies are reversing course on hard subscriptions—once seen as a safer alternative to the volatile ad market—in favor of flexible paywalls, membership programs and more ads. A strategy focused mainly on subscriptions requires upfront spending on premium content. That takes time to pay off—and many publishers don't have the cushion for that in the current ad slowdown. At the same time, many outlets have learned that simply throwing a paywall up over your previously free content doesn't work either. It throttles ad revenue without capturing enough new subscribers. Several platforms, including Time, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Atlantic, have abandoned the paywall model for ad-supported content or dynamic pricing. Even bigger entertainment companies like Netflix and Disney+ are now hedging against their subscription models to increase profitability, introducing cheaper, ad-supported options to retain customers.