Letter from the Editor: MassLive launches exclusive stories reserved for subscribers, starting Thursday

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Letter from the Editor

The past nine months have only proven more than ever how often we turn to local news to get information that is critical to our lives.

We’ve turned to the news to answer questions and keep updated on state and town restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, help us keep our families safe, provide local information around protests and police responses, and inform us about how our children will be educated.

All of this work requires a local, reliable news team. Producing high-quality journalism, content that is valuable to readers and reflects the communities they live in, is expensive.

MassLive, like other news sites across the country, must continue to develop new revenue streams to help keep our journalists working and producing that valuable coverage.

Starting tomorrow, Oct. 8, we will be launching a new initiative with Subscriber Exclusive content on MassLive.com. This means certain headlines — those with the Subscriber Exclusive label — will be accompanied by a key icon.

These “keyed” stories will be available to everyone until Oct. 20 during our introductory period, but will then only be available to digital subscribers of MassLive, or to Republican print subscribers who log in and register when they visit the site. This affects all readers once they access their second Subscriber Exclusive article in any 30-day period.

The remaining stories will remain accessible to all readers, so this is not a hard paywall as many other publishers have instituted. But it’s still a big step for us — and for you, our readers.

We know the timing is not ideal to ask for direct financial support, when so many people are out of work, struggling or helping friends and family members. But we no longer can continue to make all of our digital content available free of charge, as we have done since launching MassLive.com in 1998.

In making this change, we hope to better accelerate paid digital subscriptions, which offset advertising losses created by the pandemic, and highlight our best stories.

Some Subscriber Exclusive content will focus on how local businesses are adjusting and surviving during the COVID-19 pandemic despite massive challenges and falling revenue. Some will detail the obstacles parents are facing with remote or hybrid learning models and the steps they are taking to make sure their children get a quality education.

Some Subscriber Exclusive content will be the bread and butter of community content, including our in-depth Western Mass. high school sports coverage with more than 60 schools, and all varsity sports, covered. Sign up for our daily high school sports newsletter today.

You can act now and start your subscription by clicking this link. In addition to our $10 monthly rate, we offer a discounted annual rate of $100, which amounts to 27 cents per day for more journalism and more journalists in Massachusetts working to deliver timely and essential news.

I’m proud of the work my team does, and our growth in my almost 22 years with the company has been nothing short of extraordinary.

The most recent comScore report for August 2020 showed MassLive with 6.3 million unique visitors -- second in the New England behind BostonGlobe.com, which saw 14.65 million unique visitors -- and ahead of our other competitors including Boston.com (5.9 million), NESN (5.65 million), WCVB (4.8 million), NBCBoston (3.6 million), Courant.com (2.56 million), Providence Journal (1.85 million), the Boston Herald (1.47 million) and Telegram.com (721,000).

We hope you will support us and help us continue to serve your family and your community.

For answers to some frequently asked questions please read below and see our complete FAQ here.

How many Subscriber Exclusives will there be each day? It depends. There is no set formula, but we expect to produce multiple stories each day in news, sports and entertainment.

I’m already a voluntary digital subscriber but don’t sign in when I visit. How do I sign in? First off, thank you for being among our earliest digital supporters! To sign in, you will see a face icon in the upper right-hand corner of the website. Click there, and enter the email address you registered with and your password. (If you use the MassLive.com app, you won’t yet need to be signed in.)

I am a Republican newspaper subscriber. What does this mean for me? Again, thank you for your support and encouragement! Your print subscription comes with full digital access to MassLive at no additional charge. You’ll just need to sign in to read the Subscriber Exclusive pieces.

Ed Kubosiak Jr.

Editor and VP of Content

MassLive

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