Reach has launched a pay-as-you-read paywall trial with the Huddersfield Examiner.
Readers pay up to £1 a week to read selected articles on Examiner Live, although breaking news and traffic and travel information will remain free, along with some court and crime stories.
The selected articles will cost 25p each to read, with all content becoming free for the rest of the week once four stories have been paid for.
Reach has launched the trial with digital payment service Axate, which enables news titles to implement paywalls without requiring website users to take out subscriptions.
In a message to readers, Examiner editor Wayne Ankers said: “It is no secret that over the last ten years the journalism industry has faced serious challenges, especially at a regional level. This has been no different for the Examiner with many of our traditional sources of revenue shrinking dramatically.
“We employ local journalists and advertising staff who really care about what happens in the area and are dedicated to bringing you the highest quality of news coverage that they can. For years our customers have paid for a newspaper but people have become accustomed to receiving news online for free.
“However our journalism costs money to produce. Thanks to our website we are reaching more people than ever before each day but continuing to give away our content for free is difficult to sustain.
“That is why we have launched a trial with Axate – a micropayments system used by other websites across the country – which will allow you to pay for selected content although many of our articles will remain free of any charge.”
