WalesOnline's Premium subscription service has surpassed 6,000 subscribers since its launch in January, with the positive reader response providing a strong platform for future growth.
The service, which offers unlimited access to the website and an ad-light reading experience, was introduced as a way to fund original journalism about Wales. Subscriptions cost £4.99 for a month, £39.99 for a year, with the first month available for £1.
Why charge for content?
Some readers have questioned why the site now charges for coverage of serious issues like wildfires or court cases. The publication does not have a trust fund or licence fee to pay staff and costs, and while advertising generates revenue, it does not fully fund everything.
Covering court cases, interviewing politicians, sending photographers to wildfire scenes, or investigating hypocrisy and exploitation requires resources that will only be sustainable in the long term if readers value it enough to subscribe.
Coverage highlights
WalesOnline has covered a challenging year, including an election that saw Labour collapse, Reform surge, and Plaid take control of the Welsh Government for the first time. It has also reported on the civil war in Welsh rugby, the Ely riots sentencings, and unprecedented environmental damage from wildfires.
Investigations Editor Conor Gogarty has continued to expose problems at the Cardiff and Vale health board and the University Hospital of Wales, as well as concerns over business people who leave customers angry or take money out of struggling firms.
Sport and community reporting
Sport writers have been at the heart of covering the rugby crisis, breaking multiple exclusives. They are the only journalists covering Cardiff City and Swansea City day in, day out, with transfer stories and expert verdicts.
In news, the site has told the stories of crime victims, including women who suffered domestic abuse and men who were stalked. Political Editor Ruth Mosalski has covered the changing of the guard in politics, interviewing new figures such as Green MS Paul Rock and the Plaid MS who came to Cardiff for a house party.
Subscription details
All readers can access a number of stories free every month before being asked to subscribe. Some articles will be exclusive to subscribers from the outset, covering topics from politics to sport, business, and community life.
Subscriptions start at £4.99 a month, with the first month just £1, or £39.99 for the year. The publication says subscriber support will help sustain quality journalism and enable reporters to ask tough questions and hold power to account.
