NY Times Online Discards Paid Subscriptions

At last, the New York Times online has scrapped its paid subscription model. Read the full story here.

It looks to me like offering a "free subscription" is a matter of shifting marketing resources. And it is a win-win model from what I can see.

By allowing readers to view the #1 viewed newspaper for free, the NY Times is opening itself up to a much larger and diverse audience. But here's the payoff: By opening up the readership to a more diverse crowd, the NY Times is opening up its advertisement section to a more diverse crowd, creating more website traffic and more ad impressions.

And in the end, the more money the NY Times makes.

So there's the catch. Free is always free for a reason.

Good idea, NY Times.