Media
Publishers Stop Counting Free Articles and Start Asking Who You Are
The free-article limit trained readers to wait it out. Publishers are replacing it with a demand for an email address, which converts worse and is worth more.
Tuesday, August 25th, 2026 Independent & Reader-Supported
The free-article limit trained readers to wait it out. Publishers are replacing it with a demand for an email address, which converts worse and is worth more.
Search and social sent a generation of publishers the audience their businesses were designed around. As answers replace links, the surviving strategies assume the visit may never happen at all.