News Why parts of Tom’s Hardware now have a paywall

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On your pricing queries, I'll echo what @Jeremy Kaplan said in the main feedback thread.

We feel this is a fair price for the offering, considering the breadth of content, the new benchmark test visualization features, the specials we have planned and more. Note that this is just a beta ... Tom's Hardware is just getting started. We have loads of technical work to do behind the scenes, and we have many plans for future features, which is likely to include more pricing options down the line. THP is only going to get better."
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As someone who has been involved with the discussion from Day One, I can tell you we have never once discussed "stuffing existing content behind a paywall." I understand your skepticism, but rest assured, we ain't gonna do that.
 
"We feel this is a fair price for the offering, considering the breadth of content..."

Hello @SayemAhmed,

I'm sure you recognize that it's a foregone conclusion that forumgoers here would react negatively. I doubt anything you (or anyone) say would convince them otherwise. I applaud you for trying, all the same.

Some suggestions to aid you:

People won't pay for things sight unseen. If you want people to pay, you need to consider the freemium model that most paywalled news sites use: "teaser" portion of articles, entire articles sampling, limited number of free articles per day/month.

The per-year sub idea is frankly DOA. (Not mentioning the outrageous pricing of $69/$99.) Suggest a per-month sub with something like a $3 rate to start. If the site's content quality justifies it, and volumes of subs pour in, you can always raise the rates later.

The main problem I see is that THW's content is, to be brutally honest, somewhere between "junk" and "filler" status. It's not just my assessment, but of many,

=====
IanCutress: "As someone who worked for the same publisher, the goal is always to get on top of Google search results, accuracy be damned. TH has a habit of hiring non-Technies to fill editor roles. The publisher is always willing to pay less and overwork more. Lots of other behind-the-scenes idiocy (The EIC who wrote Just Buy It is still in charge). The desire to second source news is out the window because it gets in the way of speed of publishing, which is the main KPI for news. The same publisher also runs PC Gamer, Laptop Mag, TechRadar. All show the same attention to 'news' because it's all the same playbook. There are good writers at Tom's, though the mishandling of unconfirmed-as-true statements or really, really bad headlines that bait-and-switch. I regularly call them out. It's been three years since I worked at that publisher. Have to wonder what their AI strategy is these days."
=====
It will take a lot of heavy lifting to raise THW's reputation to a level where it can command subscriptions. Frankly, I have my doubts.

Good luck, all the same.
 
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>Until it doesnt - first time with pay walls?

Yes, some pieces that were previously free are now behind paywall. The below is one,

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...ading-but-losses-threaten-to-curtail-ambition

It's a fairly safe bet, given the dearth of quality content on THW, that any "in-depth" review such as what Jarred Walton has done with GPUs will now be separated into two section, an "overview" free section, and a more "detailed" paywalled expansion.
 
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baboma said:
>Until it doesnt - first time with pay walls?

Yes, some pieces that were previously free are now behind paywall. The below is one,

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...ading-but-losses-threaten-to-curtail-ambition

It's a fairly safe bet, given the dearth of quality content on THW, that any "in-depth" review such as what Jarred Walton has done with GPUs will now be separated into two section, an "overview" free section, and a more "detailed" paywalled expansion.
Click to expand...

For some clarity on the article you highlighted. We've been testing Premium articles for several months to ensure that we're refining article structure and content. These were written, built, and posted with Premium in mind.

This affects just a sliver of Tom's Hardware's overall output, and moving forward, all Premium articles visible on the home page will be designated as such before you click on it.

Our detailed GPU reviews are going nowhere, and they will continue to be free to all readers. That stuff is just in our DNA.
 
I won't be subscribing. I am all out of subscriptions in my quota. If I can't get the news I am looking for here, rest assured, I WILL find it somewhere else. I have been a LONG time viewer and participant on your site, but I will NOT pay money for your coverage. Sorry, not sorry. There are still plenty of other sites that make money that don't dip into my wallet, so I will just move over there.
 
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baboma said:
"We feel this is a fair price for the offering, considering the breadth of content..."

Hello @SayemAhmed,

I'm sure you recognize that it's a foregone conclusion that forumgoers here would react negatively. I doubt anything you (or anyone) say would convince them otherwise. I applaud you for trying, all the same.

Some suggestions to aid you:

People won't pay for things sight unseen. If you want people to pay, you need to consider the freemium model that most paywalled news sites use: "teaser" portion of articles, entire articles sampling, limited number of free articles per day/month.

The per-year sub idea is frankly DOA. (Not mentioning the outrageous pricing of $69/$99.) Suggest a per-month sub with something like a $3 rate to start. If the site's content quality justifies it, and volumes of subs pour in, you can always raise the rates later.

The main problem I see is that THW's content is, to be brutally honest, somewhere between "junk" and "filler" status. It's not just my assessment, but of many,

=====
IanCutress: "As someone who worked for the same publisher, the goal is always to get on top of Google search results, accuracy be damned. TH has a habit of hiring non-Technies to fill editor roles. The publisher is always willing to pay less and overwork more. Lots of other behind-the-scenes idiocy (The EIC who wrote Just Buy It is still in charge). The desire to second source news is out the window because it gets in the way of speed of publishing, which is the main KPI for news. The same publisher also runs PC Gamer, Laptop Mag, TechRadar. All show the same attention to 'news' because it's all the same playbook. There are good writers at Tom's, though the mishandling of unconfirmed-as-true statements or really, really bad headlines that bait-and-switch. I regularly call them out. It's been three years since I worked at that publisher. Have to wonder what their AI strategy is these days."
=====
It will take a lot of heavy lifting to raise THW's reputation to a level where it can command subscriptions. Frankly, I have my doubts.

Good luck, all the same.
Click to expand...
I echo some of the same concerns, however, I personally have a few quibbles.

Firstly, I believe that if a site charges a small, nominal fee for a service and then increases prices later, as you suggest, people will always perceive that negatively. A small, nominal fee with an explicit caveat that the fee will increase in the future incentivizes perpetual increases beyond what most people are willing to pay. I actually prefer a company have some confidence in their service and just state what they think their service is worth in the long run. My suggestion would be for TH to guarantee their premium service price rate for a certain number of years after they lock in what they and the community consider a fair rate for the service.

Secondly, Ian Cutress is known for his hyperbole when criticizing news outlets, not to say that he is wrong, but the magnitude of his language is usually excessive. I personally like most of the content from TH, though articles can suffer from a "publish first, accuracy second" mindset. Spelling and grammar errors are, in my opinion, unacceptable for a professional publication, especially for an annual fee, particularly in the age of AI and other spelling/grammar tools.

I concur on the freemium model; people are typically unwilling to pay for a service they can't preview. Every movie has a trailer. I also want to echo my concerns about the pressure to move the existing free content behind a paywall in a premium model. Is there any guarantee that the site will continue to function as it always has before the premium offering?
 
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SayemAhmed said:
Our detailed GPU reviews are going nowhere, and they will continue to be free to all readers. That stuff is just in our DNA.
Click to expand...
To my question above, can you guarantee that content pre-premium is not slowly bled into the premium side? Or that content on the free side is not watered down or diluted to the point that premium is where the actual information about an article resides?
 
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helper800 said:
To my question above, can you guarantee that content pre-premium is not slowly bled into the premium side? Or that content on the free side is not watered down or diluted to the point that premium is where the actual information about an article resides?
Click to expand...

I suppose one can't guarantee anything. But as I said, we have never discussed doing this and have actively planned to do exactly the opposite: We have added staff, added budget, and are adding new content and features, not taking anything away.
 
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Sayem, I appreciate the response.

>This affects just a sliver of Tom's Hardware's overall output, and moving forward, all Premium articles visible on the home page will be designated as such before you click on it.

Yes, I did see that THW picked up some new talents for its premium section, Chris Stokel-Walker and Chris Hoffman to name two. I checked out Stokel-Walker's writings on NewScientist, and from first glance he is a capable writer,

www.newscientist.com

Chris Stokel-Walker

Chris Stokel-Walker is a freelance technology journalist and author of YouTubers: How YouTube shook up TV and created a new generation of stars and TikTok Boom: China's dynamite app and the superpower race for social media.
www.newscientist.com www.newscientist.com

I wasn't as enthusiastic in looking up Hoffman, because his piece on Win XP, a retrospective musing on an obsolete Windows version isn't exactly top of mind.

Regardless, I hope that you will continue to up the quality.

TheVerge is probably the closest parallel to your sub effort. Its sub pricing is $7/mo, $50/yr. It should be worthwhile for you to use it as a yardstick.

As an aside, I was able to access the premium content with little difficulty. Your paywall can stand improvement. Just FYI.

>Our detailed GPU reviews are going nowhere, and they will continue to be free to all readers. That stuff is just in our DNA.

Good to hear. Here's to hoping that Jeff Kampman can fill the big shoes that Jarred Walton left behind.
 
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Jeremy Kaplan said:
I suppose one can't guarantee anything. But as I said, we have never discussed doing this and have actively planned to do exactly the opposite: We have added staff, added budget, and are adding new content and features, not taking anything away.
Click to expand...
This may sound terse, but I believe an answer to the following would alleviate more than just some of my own worries in regards to premium. Can you stake your reputation that under your watch the above mentioned will not happen? Still not a guarantee, but better than just saying nobody has talked about it, or planned on moving existing content to premium. I deeply care about TH and its forum.
 
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You need to offer a beta price and not full cost price. Also, your pricing is unrealistic. The Atlantic costs $79 per year and comes with a print magazine. Your level of writing is nowhere near that level. I do visit here everyday, and I was willing to pay somewhere around $29, but when I saw the price, I just laughed.
 
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Jeremy Kaplan said:
I suppose one can't guarantee anything. But as I said, we have never discussed doing this and have actively planned to do exactly the opposite: We have added staff, added budget, and are adding new content and features, not taking anything away.
Click to expand...
So the people that don't pay get click bait articles and the people that pay get actual content.
Looks like the end is very near.
 
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