Since 2011, Time magazine has utilized a paywall and as of June 1st, 2023, that paywall is being removed.
The century-old news/information outlet announced this during their gala.

In an April 27th LinkedIn post, CEO Jessica Sibley said “last night at the #TIME100 Gala I announced that we will remove the paywall from TIME.com and TIME’s archival content from the last 100 years, making TIME’s trusted journalism free for all of humanity beginning on June 1st.”

There’s still several outlets that use paywalls (a paid subscription model) as revenue has been a challenge in recent years.

Time aims to create and distribute increased advertising-supported across all their platforms.
The print issue will still be charged for in physical and digital form.

In its simplest form for all publishers/outlets: no readers, no revenue. No revenue, no readers.

There are three primary options:

Install a paywall, get consistent revenue from users but have smaller audience size.

Go without a paywall, get revenue from advertisers, have a massive audience size but risk pushing the patience of those readers being, at times, overloaded with ads.

Find a hybrid model where higher-profile articles live behind a paywall and others are freely accessible.

We’re embedded in the digital age of publishing, information and well, really, everything. Part of that, for every outlet, is revenue.
Outlets like the Toronto Star put some articles behind a paywall as a hybrid model.
Others are all-in.

From the consumer side, you may have heard of “subscriber fatigue,” which is a feeling of overload with numerous outlets using a type of paywall/subscription/pay-to-play system.

Is this about revenue or accessibility?
Sibley’s article on Time’s website leads with “At TIME we believe trusted information should be available to everyone, everywhere, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay.”

That’s all good and fine, however the proverbial lights still have to be kept on, writers need to be paid, and so on.

My take is that their subscribers (and subsequently, revenue) have been declining at a rate where it makes more sense to open the floodgates, give everyone access, and play the “massive audience” card to advertisers bolster revenue.

Will this be the start of a domino effect, or is Time part of a small group of publishers?

Let me know in the comments.