And the paywalls came tumbling down

The EU budget that keeps on giving, annual report from one of the largest funders in Europe, freelancer rates, ads on Subtack, an event invitation and 25 active calls.

Welcome

This week on Media Finance Monitor

• And the paywalls came tumbling down

• The EU budget that keeps on giving (pinch me)

• Here is how one of Europe’s largest funders spent their money

• Freelancer rates from 300+ publications

• Substack is now worth more than USD 1 billion, which means ads are coming

• Informal fireside community of practice townhall on pricing strategies. Come and join us!

• 25 active calls (1 new)

I’ll try to keep to our regular publishing schedule, but with summer in full swing, various personal and professional responsibilities, we might miss an edition or two in August. Thanks for understanding.

And the paywalls came tumbling down

I have to give some credit to Digital Digging, who recently published a piece titled "How AI bots quietly dismantle paywalls via web search" that made me, and potentially a couple of thousand of other people in …