Fairfax Media is to launch a subscription-based website to complement the Good Food Guide, marking its first foray into charging readers for access to a mainstream asset.
The site, set to launch tomorrow, will be free to users who purchase the print edition of the book at $29.95, or iPad app at $9.99. A year's subscription to the site for casual users will be priced at $9.99.
Fairfax currently charges for access to the website version of
financial newspaper AFR, however, a Fairfax spokesperson said this was
the company's first foray into mainstream paid content and that the
launch was "the first of the walled gardens".
The new online offering will feature restaurant reviews and a forum for readers to post their own reviews and make a restaurant booking.
"I think that what we need in Fairfax is a premium position for top-of-the-range content, and then I think that we will always need a second position which is for higher traffic areas, which will be an advertising-driven model," said Fairfax Media chief executive Brian McCarthy announcing the company's annual results in August."
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