Slovenia paywall sees €26,000 revenue in first month

A national paywall operated by nine publishers in Slovenia and launched in January has generated more than €26,000 revenue, with more than 25,000 readers having pre-registered according to Piano Media, which set up the subscription model, .

The paywall was the second model of its kind set up by Piano Media, the first being launched in Slovakia in April last year, where the company is based.

When the second paywall launched the company outlined a subscription model where digital readers would pay €1.99 (£1.63) per week, €4.89 (£4.02) per month or €48.90 (£40.20) per year, to access content behind the wall.

Piano Media says that even though publishers involved in the Slovenia paywall "are only putting a small minority of their content in Piano's system", the latest figures show Piano "can be successful in markets beyond Slovakia".

In a release chief executive Tomas Bella confirmed the company is seeing 37 per cent "more revenue per capita in Slovenia than Slovakia".

"Slovene Piano publishers are earning more than €1,500 per 100,000 users as compared to just over €1,100 in Slovakia," Bella added.

"If you consider that most websites were free one month earlier then these are really great results. In fact, some publishers were able to earn more than €3,000 per 100,000 users".

He said since launching the first national paywall with Slovakian media outlets "we have learned how to really fine-tune Piano's system".

The company claims that publishers involved in the Slovenia paywall are "satisfied with the initial positive reader response" and Bella is confident "more and more Slovene readers will become Piano users as they become accustomed to the system".

But there has been "an increased expectation for quality" from readers, the company adds.

In February Piano Media announced an increase in the pricing of monthly access to content in Slovakia from €2.90 to €3.90, claiming to have established "steady revenue and reader growth".

At the time the company said it "is in negotiations with publishers in 11 European countries and has plans to launch in more European markets by the end of 2012"

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