As the Herald Sun moves to a freemium model, we take a look at how The Australian fared with their paywall.

Traffic down

The Australian launched digital subscriptions last October, and subsequently saw a significant drop in traffic in November 2011.

Experian Hitwise reports there was a 20% drop in traffic to The Australian after the paywall was implemented. In a three month sample period year on year before and after paywall, The Australian had 5.4million visits in the period pre-paywall and 4.3million visits in the period post paywall. The Australian also experienced a drop in market share.

City readers leave, country readers stay

Interestingly, whilst the drop in traffic was consistent geographically state by state, data set against MOSAIC Groups showed more insight. Whilst visits from groups A, B, C, E and F dropped, outer suburban and rural segments (D, H, I, J and K) traffic was equal to or grew compared with pre-paywall traffic.

Herald Sun heavy on city readers

Currently, groups with the largest representation in Herald Sun traffic are F (16%), E (14%) and A (10%). If The Australian paywall example is indicative of the behaviour of these segments, their likelihood to continue frequenting the Herald Sun site is lower than that of their H, I, J and K counterparts. These counterparts are all underrepresented in the current Herald Sun traffic. Group D, which makes up 7% of the current Herald Sun traffic enjoys slight overrepresentation and is, according to The Australian example, more likely to hold or grow.