• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 10, 2009

Newsday's decision to begin placing Web content behind a pay wall resulted in a 21% drop in traffic in November, the first month the charge was in place.

Nielsen data shows that Newsday.com drew 1.7 million unique visitors in November, well below the 2.1 million total for October.

Year-over-year, there was a 43% decline in unique visitors for November, versus the same month last fall.

But a spokesperson for Long Island, N.Y.-based Newsday said visitors to Newsday.com were unusually high last year, due to interest in the Presidential race and the murder of a local teacher. Nielsen has increased its sample size heavily since then and has added more young readers, which could have had an impact.

On Oct. 28, Newsday broke the industry trend of newspaper content free on the Web and began charging $5 a week for unlimited access to its site (no bulk discount, $20 a month). The popular sports and Long Island local news content was placed behind the pay barrier.

In addition to the decline in the number of visitors, a notable drop in page views also resulted, with 18.6 million in November -- down 34% compared to the month before.

Year-over-year, page views for November were down 35%. November 2008, however, was the month that Newsday said traffic was unusually high.

Fewer page views could mean lower ad revenue -- part of the ultimate calculus to determine whether the gamble pays off for the Cablevision-owned Newsday. Will the number of people paying to access Newsday.com bring in enough revenue to offset any lost ad dollars?

It isn't clear so far. Newsday does not seem ready to release figures on how many people paid the $5 weekly fee, nor has it offered any projections.

Another factor is that a large population on Long Island can navigate the site for free. People who receive Newsday through home delivery, or subscribe to Cablevision's Optimum Internet service, gain free access. And Newsday says 75% of all residents on Long Island receive one or the other, or both.

Cablevision Executive Vice President Gregg Siebert said last month that with so many people eligible for free admission, he did not expect the new structure to "materially" impact revenues in the "near term."

In a statement last night, Newsday said: "Our new digital model is proceeding according to plan, with our site now specifically focused on providing unique value to Newsday subscribers and Optimum Online customers."

In addition to sports and local news, other Newsday.com content behind the wall includes columns, blogs and entertainment news, as well as videos. A small amount of content is free, notably weather forecasts.

ComScore, which also tracks Internet traffic, could release Newsday. com traffic figures for November next week.

Cablevision's Siebert indicated to investors last month that the pay wall is less about the now and more about prepping for a potentially new dynamic in the industry.

"We're taking as many steps as we can to protect our intellectual property and try and assure that as the newspaper business recovers -- or at minimum stabilizes -- that Newsday is part of that recovery," he said.

The latest financial results for the July-September period show that Newsday had an $800,000 loss on $80 million in revenue.

Other publications have attempted to charge for Web content -- notably The New York Times for its columns -- and abandoned the process. News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch has signaled that the company will begin charging for online access to all its newspapers, which include the New York Post and Times of London.

On Thursday, Hollywood trade publication Variety said it would begin charging for its site -- a step it had tried before and ditched.

News Corp.-owned Wall Street Journal has had success drawing paying customers dating back well over a decade.