Here’s a look at how publishers’ premium memberships stack up to their default reading experiences.
Slate Plus
Announced on Monday, Slate’s “totally-not-a-paywall” Slate Plus is a $50-a-year membership aimed at the site’s most dedicated readers. As with other membership programs, Slate is pitching Slate Plus as the ideal way for fans of the site to cozy up to its writers, get access to additional content — and even get an exclusive Slate mug. Slate Plus comes with a better reading experience, too: Slate stories that span multiple pages will default to single-page views on Slate Plus.
New York Times Premier
New York Times diehards will find a lot to like with New York Times Premier, the newspaper’s top-tier membership program. In addition to giving members a close look at how the Times reporters do their jobs, Times Premier also comes with exclusive access to Times Talks videos and smaller perks like special Will Shortz-crafted crosswords and Times e-books. The Times introduced the program last month and hasn’t said publicly how many members it has attracted since then.
