Sunday Times standalone website confirmed

Posted by Emma Heald on August 4, 2009 at 11:40 AM

PaidContent:UK reported that News International had confirmed that it is planning to launch a separate website for the Sunday Times, rather than keeping the paper's content under the umbrella of the Times Online site. Rumours of a standalone site started in early June when the Guardian reported that such a move was under serious consideration, and that it would charge readers for its content.

The Sunday Times is looking for new staff to help run the site: it has posted job advertisements for a news journalist, an interactive editor, a communities editor, Flash designers and an Escenic developer, paidContent pointed out.

According to paidContent there is "no word yet on whether the site will have a paid content element." The Guardian's article in June asserted that although a final decision on how to charge readers to view content had not been made, it was clear that Sunday Times subscribers would not pay for online access. Rupert Murdoch, who owns News International, has publicly declared his determination to start charging for online content, and paidContent speculates on whether the Sunday Times could be a "test bed" for a charging model.

It is standard practice for the Sunday papers to be absorbed into their partner daily's site online, as happens with the Guardian and the Observer, and the Mail and Mail on Sunday, for example. Can a standalone Sunday newspaper website work? Sunday papers' success is broadly based on the fact that people have time to sit and read a paper on Sunday. And, of course, the papers regularly boast features and columns which are unique to that publication. But will people pay, or even make a special effort to visit a website which has just this content? And would it be updated daily?

It is not clear why News International is planning to create such a new site, but it will be an interesting experiment for fellow papers to watch.

Source: PaidContent:UK