• by Ray Schultz , June 30, 2024

The New York Times plans to move its most successful podcasts behind a paywall.  

This would include limiting episodes of The Daily to only three for non-subscribers and providing new episodes of “Serial” strictly to subscribers, according to The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story based on sources within the Times.  

The plans are flexible, but the Times expects to eventually tie most of its podcasts to a subscription service, and might make archival material available only to subscribers, the Journal writes.

The Times will continue to sell advertising on podcasts, the Journal adds. 

The New York Times expected maybe 2,000 downloads when it launched The Daily podcast in 2017. But it quickly garnered 42 million downloads, said Jimmy Saunders, executive director of audio & events, New York Times, speaking during the keynote session of the recent Publishing Insider Summit in Bonita Springs, Florida.

The Times is cautious—it will not force new podcasts unless it is convinced they are needed by listeners, Saunders added.