Times and Sunday Times reveal online reader figures
Publishers of the Times and Sunday Times have revealed for the first time how many people are paying to read their newspapers online or on mobiles.
They said 105,000 customers had so far paid to go behind the papers' paywall.
A further 100,000 people had a joint subscription to read the newspapers digitally and in print, they added.
The figures have been eagerly awaited by publishers and advertisers since the two papers went behind an online paywall four months ago.
BBC media correspondent Torin Douglas says many people in the industry have been sceptical about the move, and there will be intense analysis and debate as to what the figures actually mean.
'Very pleased'
Times' executives said they expected to lose 90% of the papers' online readers when they started charging £2 a week, or £9.99 for a four-week iPad subscription.
The publishers now say the total paid audience so far is close to 200,000, allowing for duplications in subscriptions.
About 50,000 are paying a monthly subscription, either for the website editions or to read the papers on an iPad or Kindle. Many others are buying a £1 day pass.
The figures include subscribers to the print version of the papers who receive an online subscription as a result.
Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's News International, said: "We are very pleased by the response to our new digital services.
"These figures very clearly show that large numbers of people are willing to pay for quality journalism in digital formats."
The Times Online site was registering about 21 million unique users a month earlier this year but the figure has fallen to about two million for the Times and 700,000 for the Sunday Times.
Credit: BBC
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