CNN will drop its $4.95 fee for its online video subscription service in June, writes the New York Times. The move is part of CNN.com's plans to reorganize its web offerings to attract both more viewers and advertising dollars. Fox and CBS already provide free video. CNN intends to capitalize on the rapid growth in online advertising; reportedly, it will pursue 15-second commercials because they tend to be well suited to fast-paced video content. In the fall, CNN will offer access to the CNN video archive, going back to 1996, through a paid service.
CNN gets more visitors than any of its rivals - 22.4 million unique users a month. Its closest rival, MSNBC, gets an average of 21 million unique users a month.
Fox's website gets an average of 5.5 million users a month, more than the CBS site, which gets 3.7 million visitors a month. But Fox trails ABC, which gets 7.8 million hits a month on its website.
