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Journalism & Media vocabulary · Online and Digital Media

Paywall

Meaning in journalism & media, with examples

/ˈpeɪwɔːl/nounCommon term

In journalism & media, paywall means: A system on a news website that lets only paying subscribers read some or all of its articles.

In Turkish: ödeme duvarı, ücretli erişim duvarı, abonelik duvarı

How it is used

Outlets introduce, put up, drop or lower a paywall; stories can be behind the paywall or free to read. A hard paywall blocks everything, while a metered paywall allows a few free articles a month.

Example sentences

  1. We put the investigation behind the paywall but made the safety advice free.

  2. Since we introduced the paywall, digital subscriptions have doubled.

Common collocations

  • behind a paywall
  • introduce a paywall
  • metered paywall
  • hard paywall
  • drop the paywall
  • readershipThe people who read a particular newspaper, magazine or website, or the total number of them.
  • newsletterA regular email, or sometimes printed sheet, that sends a selection of news, articles or updates directly to people who have signed up for it.
  • clickbaitOnline headlines or content designed mainly to make people click, often by exaggerating, hiding the key fact or promising more than the story gives.
  • circulationThe number of copies of a newspaper or magazine that are sold or distributed, usually counted per day, week or month.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Online and Digital Media

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