Yahoo Finance has just reported on the number of subscriptions of Western newspaper giants, reading it is enviable! The news "Yahoo Finance: NYT subscription growth Q1 2025" said that as of the first quarter of 2025, the American newspaper The New York Times (NYT) had about 11.66 million subscribers, of which 11.06 million were digital subscribers and 5.76 million of which were bundle or multi-product subscribers. Statista updated more recently: As of June 2025, NYT had reached about 12 million global subscribers, of which more than 11 million were digital subscribers and about 620,000 were print subscribers. NYT's goal is to reach 15 million subscribers by 2027.
The arduous journey
Unlike NYT, The Guardian (UK) does not have a paywall to collect money from readers. They happily announce that they have more than 1.2 million regular donors worldwide and that revenue from readers accounts for more than 50% of The Guardian's total revenue.
Referring to the two examples above, comparing with the way Vietnamese newspapers charge for content, we can see that the way Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper does it is similar to NYT and Tuoi Tre Newspaper is similar to Guardian. Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper sets up a soft wall to charge for premium articles in the "For VIP readers" section on the online newspaper, selling each article individually or selling packages for 3 months, 6 months, 1 year...; while Tuoi Tre Online encourages readers to support through "rating stars": Good article? Give stars to Tuoi Tre (after logging in, readers will be instructed on how to pay).
Charging for press content in Vietnam was initiated by Vietnam+ (vietnamplus.vn) of the Vietnam News Agency in June 2018. This newspaper built a soft wall to only charge for in-depth, exclusive articles. Following Vietnam+ was Ngay Nay (electronic magazine of the Vietnam Federation of UNESCO Associations), charging for reading the newspaper in the "Special Today" section, from March 2021. Three months after Ngay Nay, in mid-June 2021, VietNamNet electronic newspaper officially charged for content in the "Premium" section after a 2-month trial launch. And Nguoi Lao Dong electronic newspaper, after a long period of exploration and reference to many models and methods at home and abroad, boldly announced charging for content in the "For VIP readers" section on the electronic newspaper on July 28, 2022, on the occasion of the 47th anniversary of the newspaper's founding. In early February 2023, Tuoi Tre announced "Tuoi Tre Sao". In comparison, in the Vietnamese print press, Nguoi Lao Dong is the pioneer newspaper to do this. And in the Southern press, Nguoi Lao Dong is also the pioneer in setting up a paywall.
Charging for reading newspapers in Vietnam is not easy at all, especially when press information is almost free to read; readers are provided with a plethora of content from good to bad by social networks; along with that is the problem of copyright piracy. If you are discouraged, you will give up early, you cannot do it; or if you do, you will sooner or later leave the game. But the collective leadership of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper has determined and is steadfast: The future of modern journalism is to charge for content, Vietnamese journalism cannot go differently from the path of progressive journalism in the world , so you must be highly determined and persevere on this long and thorny journey.
Trust in high quality journalism
Over the past 3 years, "For VIP Readers" has been loved and supported by readers. Newspapers that charge for content do not publicly disclose data on subscribers, revenue, etc., but as "insiders", we have a relatively accurate grasp of the general situation and confidently affirm that Nguoi Lao Dong is in the leading group. Content quality is the factor we put above all. With about 400 published VIP articles, it is truly worth the money. Regarding electronic payment solutions, "For VIP Readers" has long been covered with MoMo, Napas, and Ngan Luong portal. As for customers, we consider them truly "VIP", "gods", so we constantly improve content and enhance service and care. Many promotions, discounts, and "billion-dollar" gifts have been announced and implemented by us.
NYT (USA), Le Monde (France), El País (Spain), Nikkei (Japan), South China Morning Post (Hong Kong - China)... have all succeeded with the content charging model, although the level of success is different. The world press is ahead and successful, we are behind, why should we be afraid of failure?! Think about it, the cover price of a daily newspaper in Vietnam is currently popular at just over or under 6,000 VND, which contains so much sweat, effort, passion, intelligence, and responsibility of the journalist; and most of the electronic newspapers and social media channels of newspapers are free to read and watch; while the audience is willing to spend money to buy movie subscriptions, listen to content from Netflix, Spotify..., then with "honorable" press - why is it so unfair and unreasonable?
The efforts of some pioneering press agencies, including the Lao Dong Newspaper, to "break the rock and pave the way" to collect newspaper reading fees are expected to change the public's awareness and actions, so that they will believe in and accompany standard and high-quality journalism. It will definitely be so!
What do we get?
If readers ask whether "For VIP Readers" is profitable for Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, the honest answer is this: Financially, we have flexible and creative ways to balance, at least break even. In terms of intangible value, we have gained many things.
First of all, with "For VIP readers", we position the Nguoi Lao Dong brand in a more luxurious position in the press and more solemn in the hearts of readers.
Next, we quickly approached modern, civilized journalism thinking, in which selling and buying news and selling and buying media perspectives are fair transactions. For journalism, this is the foundation of professional journalism, in which quality content is the key to opening the gate of development. For the public, we contribute to gradually changing (educating) their habit of reading free newspapers. At the same time, we limit illegal copying of journalistic works.
In addition, "For VIP Readers" helps us diversify our media products and revenue sources in the context of declining print newspaper sales, while also building a loyal readership. Technology in general and AI in particular will be a great support to realize this strategy.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/thu-phi-doc-bao-duong-dau-moi-thach-thuc-196250724204058442.htm
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