Dow Jones-owned finance and business news digital brand MarketWatchis adding a paywall to its online content.

A subscription to MarketWatch costs $1 for the first four weeks, then rises to $19.99 a month. It includes unlimited access across devices and platforms, member-exclusive content and fewer ads.

In a note to readers explaining the paywall, MarketWatch editor Jeremy Olshan wrote: “There is far too much news for our own good.”

“MarketWatch’s mission is to help readers sift through the noise to mine those riches. To blaze the path from news and information to knowledge."

MarketWatch’s audience “grew to record highs even before the crises of 2020 made the appetite for information about markets and the economy more ravenous than ever,” Olshan noted.

“MarketWatch is introducing a paywall in order to raise the ambitions of our journalism, and to help you, our loyal readers, navigate a period of unprecedented financial uncertainty,” he wrote.

The subscription program will provide more in-depth analysis, personalized information and insights, Olshan said.

Most of MarketWatch’s business comes from advertising. The subscription is launching, not because the business is not doing well, but because “building a community of subscribers will allow us to build on this success, diversify our revenue streams and secure our long-term future,” according to Olshan.

Much of the site will remain free, such as MarketWatch’s market data pages and the Virtual Stock Exchange. 

A subscription will grant readers unlimited access to MarketWatch’s original reporting, news, analysis, commentary and features about investing, the economy, personal finance and retirement.

MarketWatch subscribers can also add access to Barron’s, another Dow Jones brand, which can be read without leaving MarketWatch.com.

A MarketWatch and Barron’s bundle subscription costs $1 for the first four weeks, then $22.99 a month.

Separately, Dow Jones brand WSJ Magazine is reducing its print frequency from 12 issues to eight in 2021.

Kristina O’Neill, editor in chief of the monthly fashion and luxury lifestyle insert of The Wall Street Journal's weekend edition, told WWD the print magazine anchors other digital opportunities.

During certain parts of the year, it makes more sense to not publish a print product and free up resources to focus on digital offerings, such as WSJ Magazine's upcoming 10th annual Innovators Awards event, which will be virtual for the first time this year.

Advertisers are increasingly shifting to digital as they focus on ecommerce amid COVID-19, WSJ Magazine publisher Luke Bahrenburg told WWD.

A number of magazines reduced their print frequency this year, due to the economic constraints caused by the pandemic. 

Marie Claire, Bazaar and Elle each had one summer issue. Vogue combined its June and July issues. Paper did not publish a summer or fall issue.

WSJ Magazineskipped its August issue.