Major Romanian media group Adevarul to introduce pay wall for online content

Adevarul Holding, the biggest print media group in Romania, is to introduce a paywall to all its websites this year, media news website Paginademedia.ro announced on Wednesday. According to the source, a decision in this regard was announced in a group meeting today. Adevarul Holding general manager Peter Imre told HotNews.ro that details about this internally communicated „strategic decision” would be made public when an official announcement in this regard would be made.

Adevarul Holding controls, among others, Adevarul – the largest-circulation general interest newspaper, which saw a boost in sales with major advertising and insterts campaigns; tabloid Click, the best selling newspaper in Romania, also supported through major campaigns; and Dilema Veche, an opinion&analysis magazine, which was recently relaunched. All publications have their own websites which now can be accessed for free. The group is controlled by Romania’s richest man Dinu Patriciu, a businessman with extensive activities in the oil sector.

Peter Imre, contacted by HotNews.ro, would not provide details about the mechanism and prices to support the introduction, which would be provided should a public announcement be made. He said it was a commercial decision based on the idea that cheap or for-free means bankruptcy and that while traffic on the web may drop significantly once a paywall is introduced, revenues from those who would remain would be higher than in the case of all-free content.