Dubai-based Gulf News launches paywall for content starting from Dhs1 per week

Dubai-based news organisation, Gulf News, launched a paywall service for its digital content on Tuesday, April 20.

There are two plans being rolled out by the news agency – Standard Access Plan and Prime Access Plan.

Standard Access Plan is a monthly subscription plan with access to select content on gulfnews.com and is priced at Dhs5.95 as an introductory offer, against a base price of Dhs11.

Prime Access Plan has both monthly and annual subscription options. It provides access to all its special content in addition to regular news coverage on gulfnews.com

The Prime Access annual plan is priced at Dhs52 as an introductory offer, against a base price of Dhs195. The introductory price is for users who registered with Gulf News until April 19, 2021.

All new customers registering from April 20, 2021 onwards, can avail of the Prime Annual Plan for Dhs65 against the base price of Dhs195. Monthly subscription offers remain the same.

The subscription to the Prime Access plan allows access to niche sections such as Living in UAE, Your Money, Parenting, Food, and a Special Reports section which provides long-form in-depth stories.

“It is no longer possible for us or for that matter any other news organisation to carry on offering their content for free, while we witness, regionally and globally, an increasing decline in revenues coming in from advertising,” said Gulf News CEO, editor-in-chief and executive director of publishing, Abdul Hamid Ahmad.

Read: ‘No longer possible for us to offer content for free’ – Gulf News CEO

“This is a reality that media houses have to accept and are forced to comply with. We were offering our high-quality content online for free for the longest time, when the print revenue gave us the freedom to do so. But, that is on the decline, as can be seen the world over. As the new challenge of the coronavirus pandemic arrived, we found that innovation was the only way forward. We had to change, adapt and go ahead with the subscription process.”

Ahmad points out that the decision to install the paywall was not in any way intended to block out its current base of readers from consuming its content. “The paywall is not a wall to prevent people from reading but is a gateway for trusted, credible and verified news. By setting this digital subscription in place, we protect our readers from fake news and clickbait content,” said Ahmad.