CNN Throws up Online Paywall, Consumers Now Have to Join

Welcome to the complicated world of digital analytics.

 CNN and world news outlet Reuters put paywalls on their websites

A paywall is what you run into when you visit a website, and they give you a few free items to read before charging, or demand outright that you subscribe to their page before you can access it.

CNN's paywall is $3.99 per month, for starters. While their digital content is one of the most viewed sites in news, along with Fox, MSNBC, Breitbart and others, their TV ratings counter the numbers.

Some experts say sacrificing a few million page views out of hundreds of milllions by charging is a workable payoff, because they will more than make the money back with subscriptions.

Not long ago CNN experience some layoffs and cutbacks, mainly due to sagging TV ratings.

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However, opponents point to a number of newspapers around the country that have put up paywalls in an effort to stop the bleeding in their traditional 'paper' products. Paywalls restrict consumer access for newspapers that are already facing dwindling readership.

Some people are willing to subscribe, others view paywalls as an annoyance. Paywalls are still not a catch-all for revenue. Most news, sports, entertainmen,t and related websites charge advertisers based on the page views they get.  It's called analytics.  Every UV, or unique visitors (your computer or phone IP address, it's like a street address) is counted, and they count page views.

If a person clicks on and 'reads' three stories on a news page, that counts as 3 pageviews. The more pageviews and digital traffic, the more they can justify charging higher ad rates.

Many news, sports, and entertainment websites choose this method, instead of irritating their consumers with a paywall.  Fox does make some of it's content only available to subscribers, but most of theirs is still free.