Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung plans paywall
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) is planning to introduce a paywall for its online content. Managing Director Tobias Trevisan announced this in the industry magazine *Wirtschaftsjournalist*, which is published today, Friday.
However, it is not yet clear when the Faz will introduce the paywall: "There is no timetable yet, but we are of course looking intensively at the issue and will take the step towards a paywall as soon as possible," explains Trevisan.
In an interview with WJ Editor-in-Chief Markus Wiegand, Trevisan explains: "The topic is popular, but it is sometimes forgotten that a paywall is not a strategy in itself. For the Faz, paid content is part of a quality strategy. And we're currently discussing exactly what that looks like."
Trevisan believes that compulsory payment will only be successful if the content online is of the same high quality as in the newspaper. That is generally not yet the case online, he says, which is because the current focus is still on driving up reach. "We are in a business today that is oriented toward the mass market. As a quality title, we don't have the best prerequisites for that. Others like T-Online or Bild.de can do that better," said Trevisan. Advertising prices on the Internet are determined by the big players. This leads to unattractive dumping prices in online marketing.
