News International has today announced that 105,000 readers have paid to read the Times and Sunday Times online or on iPad and Kindle since introducing paywalls.

It said a further 100,000 customers had a joint subscription to read the newspapers in their digital forms and in print.

Around 50,000 of the web readers have a monthly subscription while many of the rest have taken a £1 day pass.

The sales figures have been hotly-anticipated since The Times and Sunday Times sites were put behind paywalls in July. Media commentators speculated over whether it was a wise move.

Today the publishers are hailing the result as a success. News International chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, said: "We are very pleased by the response to our new digital services.

"These figures very clearly show that large numbers of people are willing to pay for quality journalism in digital formats."