blendle [1] is still trying to make this work, and has been for years with minimal success in attracting publishers or readers. scroll [2] also tried something similar, with again minimal success in attracting either readers or publishers before being acquired by twitter and essentially shut down. every news site seems to be doing the math and deciding that the hope of $5-$10/mo is better than $0.15-$0.50 per read.
[1] https://launch.blendle.com/
[2] https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/4/22417852/twitter-buying-sc...