CNN sets up a paywall on its website as TV revenue declines

CNN has long had one of the most visited news websites in the world. From Tuesday, users will have to pay for it.

The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned news network is setting up a paywall on CNN.com that will require U.S. users to pay $3.99 a month or a discounted price of $29.99 a year for access . The subscription allows unlimited use of the website, which is visited by 150 million people worldwide every month.

According to an internal memo from Alex MacCallum, executive vice president of digital products and services at CNN, users will be prompted to subscribe after accessing a series of free stories.

The reason for CNN's move is because of the problems plaguing all of traditional television. Consumers are spending more time watching online videos and canceling their traditional pay TV subscriptions. Cable and satellite customer revenues are declining as cord-cutting continues at a steady pace each year. This trend, along with a decline in ratings, has put pressure on CNN's profit margins.

Whether consumers will pay for a product they have used for free for years remains to be seen. Mark Thompson, who took over as CNN chairman last year, built The New York Times into a successful digital subscription site during his tenure at the company.

MacCallum's memo states that subscribers “will receive benefits such as exclusive election stories, original documentaries, a curated daily selection of our most outstanding journalism and reduced digital advertising.” According to people familiar with the plans, CNN is currently developing video content that will run behind the paywall on the site will be available.

The subscription plan comes more than a year after CNN's false start in the streaming market. The channel launched CNN+ in 2022 with a slate of original programs hosted by the network's notable talent. The costly venture was canceled just days after its launch when Warner Bros. Discovery took over the company.

CNN has created a stream of news programming for its parent company's Max platform.

CNN trails Fox News and MSNBC in the Nielsen ratings. But all cable networks face an existential threat from cord-cutting as they lose revenue and their ability to reach consumers through television. Carriage agreements with pay-TV providers prevent news broadcasters from replicating their channels for a direct-to-consumer offering.

Fox News has a subscription service called Fox Nation that offers documentary and lifestyle programming aimed at its conservative-leaning audience. The service offers some previous day's Fox News shows on a video-on-demand basis.