• by Erik Sass , August 2, 2011

While many American newspapers are still puzzling over how to manage paywalls for online content, a UK newspaper -- The Financial Times -- is reporting substantial gains from its metered digital access model, which launched in 2007.

The good news from the FT buttresses a positive report from The New York Times about its own digital subscription sales.

Total digital subscriptions increased 34% from 172,000 in the first half of 2010 to 230,000 in the first half of 2011, according to Pearson, which publishes the FT. This included a 30% increase in subscriptions to FT.com. The newspaper also sells subscriptions for digital editions on the iPad and other mobile devices. Also, registered users soared 49% from 2.48 million to 3.7 million over the same period.

Under the FT model, registered visitors may read up to 10 articles per month for free, but must buy a subscription (print or digital) to gain access to more articles after they have hit the 10-article limit.

What's more, the digital subscriptions are making a real contribution to Pearson's bottom line, with revenues in the FT division increasing 5.8% from £192 million in the first half of 2010 to £203 million in the first half of 2011, and profit increasing 3% from £30 million to £31 million. The increase is especially noticeable in the context of an overall advertising environment that is lukewarm at best.

Indeed, while these might seem like small incremental increases, the FT's performance compares favorably to big American newspaper publishers, where advertising and circulation revenues continued to drop in the first half of 2011, modest growth in digital revenues notwithstanding.

Gannett's publishing division saw total revenues decline 4.9% to $977.1 million in the second quarter of 2011; total revenues at Media General declined 6.8% to $154.8 million. McClatchy Co. revealed that total revenues declined 8.1% to $314.3 million, while The New York Times Company's total revenues slipped 2.2% to $576.7 million.

As noted, however, there is a bright spot in the NYTCO results. Since its launch in late March, the number of digital subscribers acquired through the NYT's paywall increased to 224,000; counting paid subscriptions for e-readers and replica editions, total paid digital subscribers came to 281,000 at the end of the second quarter.

There are also 100,000 readers who get free unlimited access to the site through a sponsorship deal with Lincoln.