NY Times Invests In Blendle For Pay-As-You-Go Reading

There is one thing that may dissuade you from reading an article on a website run by traditional print media websites. If you've ever run into a paywall, you know how frustrating it can be. Even though they're not asking much, sites like The New York Times or Wall Street Journal still want you to pay for their content. A recent $3.8 million investment by The New York Times suggests they aren't interested in moving away from that pay-to-read model, and might even be expanding on it.

Blendle is widely billed as the 'iTunes for Journalism', and that's not far off. By creating a list for you based on what your friends or trusted sources, Blendle then sets a pay amount for each article.

It's still a paywall, but it's a friendlier version of one. By asking that you pay per article rather than unlock a door to the entire site, those who use paywalls can kind of nickel and dime their way to profitability.

Blendle also offers a refund option. If you pay for an article based on the headline, but quickly find out it's about something you just plain didn't want to read about, you can request a refund.

It's an interesting concept, and Blendle is using this funding to roll the service out to all of Europe (it's currently only available in the Netherlands). The paywall still exists, but someone is creating cubicles on the other side of it.

Source: Blendle