CNN on Tuesday morning will take its second swing at trying to boost revenue from streaming video and digital content.

Most users of CNN.com will likely see no change in the experience they have each time they visit CNN.com, one of the biggest news sites in digital media. Heavy users, however, will be asked to consider starting a subscription to the site, which will begin to offer more content behind a paywall that executives at the Warner Bros. Discovery outlet hope will entice them to pay a little extra: $2.99 a month, or $29.99 a year. The company unveiled its subscription hopes in July.

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

CNN is bringing back subscription services after its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, ended CNN+ in 2022 just a few weeks after its launch. This venture, which charged subscribers $5.99 per month, offered access to a library of original CNN programs, as well as new shows featuring anchors such as Kate Bolduan, Wolf Blitzer, Chris Wallace, and Kasie Hunt .

CNN’s MacCallum is familiar with the project. She helped to develop and launch it during a previous role. She returned to CNN in January of this year , as part of a new focus by CNN’s chairman, Mark Thompson, to create new sources of digital revenue as many former cable subscribers move towards streaming video and social media for news, information, and entertainment. CNN+, MacCallum says, aimed to create a new media entity from scratch. CNN.com, she says, already has a strong user base that executives hope can be converted over time.

“We have this enormous audience, over 150 million every month, and millions and millions of people come to us through CNN.com many times a week, if not many times a day,” she says. “The goal here is to take a product that already exists and add some more to it.”

The company declined to say how many free articles a person would need to read before the paywall would kick in. The rate at which people sign up for the subscription offer could help CNN understand how many free articles to offer. Subscribers to CNN.com will see fewer digital ads.

They will have access to exclusive content, MacCallum says, including a collection of “flash” documentary programs on recent topics and stories and an interactive feature that lets users examine the two presidential candidates' various paths to winning 270 electoral votes. Over time, the executive notes, subscribers will see more video products and a greater emphasis on recognizable CNN anchors and correspondents from around the world.

Text articles form the core of CNN.com now, she says, and “will continue to be very important,” but “over time, we aim to explore” video and providing subscribers access to experts in specific topics and correspondents from around the world. CNN also intends to expand the offering with lifestyle content that might include projects similar to what Anthony Bourdain did in his respected CNN cooking-and-travel series “Parts Unknown,” or that feature popular CNN personnel like Dr. Sanjay Gupta focusing on health.

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

CNN may feel new pressure to succeed in streaming as many of its rivals have already started to gain traction in it . CBS News, NBC News and ABC News already run multiple hours of streaming newscasts each weekday in ad-supported venues, while Fox News Channel operates a subscription-based streaming outlet, Fox Nation, that seeks to court fans of its conservative programming with documentaries, stand-up comedy and even faith-based programming.

CNN believes building the subscription base of CNN.com will “require a couple of years,” says MacCallum. Some of CNN’s journalists “will have a crucial role” through video products, she adds, and executives are prepared to “adapt as we go.”

Unlike CNN Max, a CNN product designed for users of the Max streaming service, a CNN.com subscription will not provide access to the live programming of the company’s traditional cable network, says MacCallum. Even so, individuals who subscribe to that outlet will be able to log in separately on CNN.com so they can watch Jake Tapper, Abby Phillip, Jon Berman and others lead their regularly scheduled programs.