ITV drops Friends Reunited paywall

by Andrew McCormick, Media Week 01-May-08, 12:05

LONDON - ITV has bowed to consumer demand for social networking services to be free, by scrapping the subscription model for Friends Reunited.

The broadcaster will now rely solely on ad revenue to fund Friends Reunited, bringing down the subscription barrier.

Acquired by ITV for £120m in December 2005, Friends Reunited has swiftly been overtaken by start-up social networks such as Bebo, MySpace and Facebook, all of which depend on advertising rather than subscription fees for their income.

Friends Reunited has gradually built a dual model of funding from both advertising and subscription, so it won't be starting from scratch in its attempts to bring advertisers on board.

The social network has also been overhauled, with new features aimed squarely at the over-30s. The site's users will be able to create an interactive personal timeline of their lives and share them with friends. Online photo albums have been introduced, as well as enhanced privacy controls.

ITV said that almost nine out of ten messages written by Friends Reunited are not sent, meaning that the subscription model was holding back widespread participation. Genes Reunited, ITV's family history site, and Friends Reunited Dating, will retain their subscription models.