10 April, 2017. 12:23
ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
One of Australia’s oldest media companies is ‘on the verge of totally collapse’ after a flaw in their multi-million dollar paywall has led to thousands of Australians reading their articles for free.
At the moment, the brand’s flagship newspapers allow unsubscribed readers to enjoy a total of 30 free articles per month, before putting up a paywall preventing the user from reading anymore unless they start paying.
However, that paywall can be easily bypassed by opening the article in an Incognito Window, which is hitting Fairfax hard, according to one insider.
“We had a meeting about it the other day,” said the mole.
“It was OK when the Millenials were doing it, but when they showed their parents how to do it, that’s when the arse really started to fall out of the business. Nobody wants to advertise or subscribe to us anymore, which is not good for business,”
“If it weren’t for Domain, we’d all be content producers at some serious B2B publication. It would be a serious gun-in-mouth type scenario for any journalist worth their weight in FOI requests if Fairfax goes under.”
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel for the fiscally besieged media conglomerate.
“We own the Canberra Times building in Fyshwick. It’s over-insured so there could be an electrical fire there before too long. We’ve also discussed the possibility of dealing drugs to other companies in the wider Pyrmont area down in Sydney. I could be worse, I could be at Buzzfeed.”
More to come.
