Salon.com to unveil subscription service

PALO ALTO - Online magazine Salon.com today introduced a new subscription service featuring exclusive content as a way to boost its revenues, and said it would also maintain a free service and offer larger ad formats to attract more sponsors.

The company said it will feature the same ad format that was recently introduced by the technology and shopping site Cnet Networks.

The ads are larger than the traditional banners, feature moving content, and have been demonstrated in tests to be more effective than banners. The new subscription service will be ad-free.

"In order to capture our share of the $US200 billion advertising market, Internet advertising needs to mature and become more competitive with broadcast television and print advertisements," Michael O'Donnell Salon Chief Executive said in a statement.

Although Salon has built up a loyal user base of 2.7 million monthly visitors, it has struggled with most other online content sites to monetize its audience.