Time magazine is experimenting with making premium online content freely available to those who agree to view a multi-paged, full-screen interactive Chrysler ad that uses technology from Ultramercial, thus far used extensively by Salon since early 2003, writes ClickZ. Visitors to Time.com have gained access to the "Person of the Year" cover story and the magazine's articles archive of articles for 24 hours. If pleased with the results of the test, Time may in the future make other premium content available as ad-supported content.
Last week, WashingtonPost.com said it would provide free access to its articles for 60 days, up from 14, before sending them into a subscribers-only archive.
The switch apparently came about as a result of traffic from blogs, search and RSS, which drive readers directly to stories rather than to the front page of a site; apparently, about half of WashingtonPost.com traffic now comes through such "side doors."
