CNN will try to increase revenue from streaming video and digital content for the second time Tuesday morning.

Most CNN.com users are unlikely to notice any change in their experience each time they visit CNN.com, one of the largest digital news sites. But heavy users are asked to consider taking out a subscription to the site, which will offer more content behind a paywall that executives at the Warner Bros. Discovery outlet hope will entice them to pay a little more : $2.99 ​​per month. or $29.99 per year. The company announced its subscription hopes in July.

“We hope these are our first, very early steps toward building a direct-to-consumer business,” Alex MacCallum, executive vice president of digital products and services at CNN Worldwide, said during an interview. “We want this to be a very robust business that complements our affiliate revenue and our advertising revenue.”

CNN announces a return to subscription products after parent company Warner Bros. discontinues Discovery CNN+ in 2022, just weeks after its launch. This project, which cost subscribers $5.99 per month, offered access to a library of original CNN series as well as new shows with hosts such as Kate Bolduan, Wolf Blitzer, Chris Wallace and Kasie Hunt.

CNN's MacCallum knows the project well. During a previous job, she helped set up and launch the company. She returned to CNN in January of this year, part of a new focus by CNN Chairman Mark Thompson aimed at unlocking new digital revenue streams as legions of one-time cable subscribers shift to streaming video and social media for news, information and more Entertainment. CNN+, says MacCallum, tried to create a new media entity from the ground up. CNN.com, she says, already has a solid user base that executives hope can be converted over time.

“We have a huge audience, over 150 million every month, and millions and millions of people come to us on CNN.com several times a week, if not several times a day,” she says. “The idea here is to take a product that already exists and give it even more traction.”

The company declined to reveal the number of free articles one might have to read to trigger the paywall. The acceptance rate of the subscription offer could help CNN understand how many free articles to offer. CNN.com subscribers will see less digital advertising.

They will have access to exclusive features, MacCallum says, including a library of “flash” documentary programs on current issues and stories, as well as an interactive feature that allows users to examine the two presidential candidates in various ways to get 270 electoral votes. Over time, executives note, subscribers will see more video products and rely more heavily on well-known CNN anchors and correspondents from around the world.

Text articles are currently the foundation of CNN.com, she says, and “will remain very important,” but “over time we want to move into video and give subscribers access to experts on specific topics and correspondents from around the world.” ” World. CNN also plans to expand offerings with lifestyle content, which could include projects in the style of Anthony Bourdain on his popular CNN cooking and travel series “Parts Unknown” or focused on popular CNN contributors such as Dr. Sanjay Gupta focus on health.

“We have all these assets that are outside of hard news, and over time we want to invest more in them,” MacCallum says.

CNN may be feeling new pressure to succeed in the streaming space, as many of its competitors have already started making inroads into the streaming space. CBS News, NBC News and ABC News already offer several hours of streaming newscasts each weekday in ad-supported venues, while Fox News Channel operates a subscription-based streaming provider, Fox Nation, that aims to woo fans of its conservative programming with documentaries. Stand-up comedy and even faith-based programs.

CNN expects building CNN.com's subscription base “will take a couple of years,” MacCallum says. Some of CNN's journalists “will play a really critical role in video products,” she adds, and executives are prepared to “learn as we go.”

Unlike CNN Max, a CNN product specifically for users of the Max streaming service, a CNN.com subscription does not grant access to the company's linear cable network's live programming, MacCallum says. Still, people who subscribe to this channel can log in separately on CNN.com to watch Jake Tapper, Abby Phillip, Jon Berman and others host their regularly scheduled shows.