(Image Source: mediabistro )

BY DAVID EARL

Turns out the New York Times paywall is paying off. In fact, it’s proved so popular for the paper’s website that — come April — it’s adding more.   CNN.com reports the paper …

“...has decided to cut the number of free stories non subscribers are allowed to read in half.
[Right now] people without a subscription can read 20 free stories per month on their website, but [soon] that number drops to 10.”

A reporter for the Wall Street Journal — which also runs a paywall — says the New York Times saw the numbers for paid content on its website , and thinks there’s more paid subscriptions -- ranging from $10-$35 a month -- to be had.

“Now what they’re saying is there’s a bigger group of people we think will pay us every month for acess to this, but we still want people to come by and visit us from Google, from Twitter and Facebook.”

And Fox Business has more of the numbers behind the decision to build up the paywall.

“The plan has the potential to give the company an influx of $100 million in annual revenues and set a roadmap for the rest of the industry. It also revealed 454,000 paid digital subscribers to the Times and International Herald Tribune, marking an impressive 16.4% rise since the end of 2011.”

Politico obtained the memo sent to New York Times employees about the coming change. In it, publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. seems very happy about his paywall.

“'This is truly a cause for celebration as nearly half a million people are now paying for digital content from The Times and the IHT.'”

But the move, which is based on the success of the initial paywall, isn’t without skeptics. Media Life Magazine says expanding the wall doesn’t necessarily mean more money.

“The major issue in any discussion of a paywall is figuring out just the right formula for maximizing revenue, weighing the increased subscription revenue against declines in ad revenue from the falloff in traffic as some number of readers stop coming to the site, or come less often, rather than pay for access.”

Look for the Times to implement the changes for non-paying customers in April.