As print circulation and advertising revenue spirals downward publishers are left searching for alternative revenue options. While paid online advertising continues to grow it is nowhere to the point of replacing print advertising. So how do publishers re-coup the loss?
One of the more interesting online debates that has been brewing over the last couple of years is the concept of paying for content online. Will consumers pay for content that they are already receiving for free? Chris Anderson from Wired Magazine recently released a new book titled “Free.” Here is the basic concept of the book, directly from Anderson:
“I described Freemium as the opposite of the traditional free sample: instead of giving away 1% of your product to sell 99%, you give away 99% of your product to sell `1%. The reason this makes sense is that for digital products, where the marginal cost is close to zero, the 99% cost you little and allow you to reach a huge market. So the 1% you convert, is 1% of a big number.”
Below are some interesting reviews and response to this topic that I have stumbled upon -
- Malcom Gladwell - Priced to Sell. Is free the future? (The New Yorker)
- Seth Godin – Malcom is Wrong (Seth’s Blog)
- Chris Anderson – Dear Malcom: Why so threatened? (The Long Tail)
- Can the mainstream media learn anything from National Public Radio’s new look and business plan? (Newsweek)
As a media professional I find this topic very interesting. If websites start charging for content what will that do to traffic? Will traffic metrics be more about quality than quantity? How will this effect paid placements? If ESPN.com charged for content but SI.com did not, who would I rather advertise with?
Check out the new poll and let us know what you think.
