CS Insights: How Do Paywalls Impact Business News Readership?

December 2025

We sat down with Eddie Kim, Founder and CEO of Memo, to answer some of the most common questions we hear from clients and advisors about how audiences actually engage with business news today.

Memo is the only platform that provides direct-from-publisher readership data — showing how many people actually read a specific news article, not just how many articles were written. By relying on real readership instead of vanity metrics, teams can finally see which coverage truly matters and make smarter decisions.

Below is our Q&A with Eddie, covering paywalls, crisis response strategy, and the business topics that consistently capture reader attention.

CS: Generally speaking, what impact do paywalls have on business news readership trends?

EK: They certainly have an impact on how many people read an article, but the effect varies depending on the type of paywall.

• Strict paywalls result in about 40% fewer readers than non-paywalled articles. These are outlets that do not offer a few free articles per month or mix paywalled and non-paywalled content.
• Partial paywalls see about 50% more readers on average than fully paywalled sites.

The other important factor is that while paywalls tend to draw a smaller overall audience, they generally reflect a more intentional audience that the particular outlet caters to. In other words, though the overall readership may be smaller than on non-paywalled sites, the articles are reaching a specific, high value audience.

CS: Crises are always a hot topic, and unfortunately, something every comms person has to deal with. How can actual readership data influence how companies respond during a crisis?

EK: Readership data helps teams separate noise from actual impact. You might have a very negative article in a top-tier publication, but if no one is reading it should you issue a statement or stay quiet? For example:

• Not every headline crisis is a real crisis. Apple’s tariff coverage dominated headlines earlier this year but accounted for just 6% of total Apple readership during that quarter, showing that readers weren’t engaging with the stories.
• The biggest stories are not always the loudest. Earlier this year, we observed that 14 local dealership articles about Ford drove more readers than 1,600 national tariff stories did in a one month period. Without real readership data, a company would assume that the national tariffs are what people are reading but the opposite was true.

CS: What major trends are you seeing in how consumers engage with business news? Are there topics that perform regardless of paywall?

EK: Yes. One category consistently breaks through: leadership driven stories. And no, that’s not me hinting that everyone should go pitch more CEO profiles—those are actually some of the worst performers.

What I mean by leadership stories is articles centered on the expert opinion or advice that only a leader is able to share. For instance, when AI-focused leaders discuss the future of AI, or when leaders talk about the state of the consumer based on data only their company possesses, these types of articles always perform well, regardless of whether a paywall is present or not.

CS: Anything else you think we should know about leveraging insightful data from a platform like Memo and how it can inform strategy?

EK: The biggest takeaway is that hard  data helps teams understand what actually reaches people—not just what gets written. Because we measure real readership at the article level, companies can see which stories break through, which narratives shape perception, and where audiences truly focus their attention.

This also means teams can accurately size a crisis, spot unexpected breakout stories, and identify which topics matter most to key stakeholders like customers, investors, and employees. With Memo’s Benchmarking features, communicators can instantly see how any article’s readership compares to all other articles on that same publisher, providing clear context for whether a story over- or under-performed.

In short: Memo helps brands replace assumptions with real audience insight—so you can make smarter, faster decisions the moment coverage hits.

CS: Lastly, how does Memo think about AI platforms and what they mean for readership and media strategy? Our viewpoint is that Gen AI platforms actually increase the importance of earned media strategies. 

EK: It’s a great question and one we get asked a lot about. There’s been a surge of interest in AI citation data—tools that claim to show how often a brand is mentioned or referenced by AI models. It's quickly becoming a requested data point in comms, but most market solutions take a very shallow approach. They often aggregate citations at the domain level or surface generic sources like homepages or Wiki pages, making it hard to understand which actual earned articles are influencing AI generated answers.

At Memo, our value has always come from depth, credibility, and article level precision, so we’re bringing that same standard to AI. We are focused on identifying article level AI citations and pairing them with our readership data.

Our goal was to create a single destination where teams can clearly see:

• Which of their earned articles are being cited by AI models
• How much readership those articles drove
• How their brand’s AI visibility compares to competitors
• Which publishers and topics are most likely to surface in AI generated responses

We’re also incorporating thoughtful prompt design to ensure the underlying questions reflect the topics and issues our clients care most about. The result is a more intentional, strategic understanding of how brands are represented across AI platforms. Far beyond generic mentions and far closer to true influence.

Additionally, our approach is the only one fully endorsed by comms leaders at the major LLM’s. 

I’m very excited about introducing this feature in a couple of weeks. It’s one of the biggest things we’ve done at Memo, and the feedback has already been tremendous!

About Memo

Brands like Disney, Walmart, JPMorgan Chase, Abbott,, American Express, and dozens more use Memo to understand which stories break through, which narratives shape reputation, and how audiences respond during moments of opportunity or crisis.