Details are emerging on the new online micropayment initiative Steven Brill and others are launching with some 130 publishers.

Journalism Online won't be a paywall, per se, but a meter that permits access to 10 to 15 articles before any subscription fee would be involved. 

In that way, only about 10-15 per cent of users will find access restricted --- others don't use such wide access --- and also permit all online content to be searchable and indexed. 

The principle also feeds Brill's view that about 10 per cent of users are prepared to pay for access to particular sites out of loyalty to the brand.
 

The micropayment initiative from the experienced news media executives running Journalism Online has been relatively cloaked since the company was launched earlier this year. But in a filing to the Newspaper Association of America, it reveals more of its business plans.

Esssentially it would assume 10 per cent of existing users would participate in a paywall model and subscribe to a possible variety of options, ranging from a per-article micropayment to a fee for the fullest possible service. Journalism Online would share revenue and take about 20 per cent as a commission.

News companies would continue to offer a lot of content free under this model and continue to earn advertising revenue from that.

In its model for a large newspaper of one million circulation and 20 million unique visitors, Journalism Online believes it could generate about $33 million in the first year and $86 million in the second year, based on behavioural and other models it has generated. Obviously this would be a supplement to print revenue.