CBSNews.com: "Free Access Or NewsSelect?"

From CBSNEWS.com's Hillary Profita:

Jonathan Dube, editorial director for the Canadian Broadcasting Company's Web site and editor of Cyberjournalist.net, a site that focuses on the intersection of web technology and journalism, agrees with Morgan. "Online users are more likely to watch shorter video segments than full shows," says Dube. "Plus, breaking up the video from a show into individual stories enables the sites to integrate the video with related articles on the Web site, and makes it possible for sites to offer users 'build their own newscast' options. Presenting the video in that way enables news sites to better take advantage of the strengths of the Internet."

...Still, while publications such as The New York Times may be navigating toward subscription-based content, television news web sites are shifting in the opposite direction, says Dube, citing CNN's recent decision to drop its charge for video content on its Web site. "In the past year, CNN.com, one of the biggest sites that required a subscription for people to view video, moved away from that model, opening it up to all CNN.com users for free. Most major news sites now offer their video for free, and I expect them to continue to do so. In the past year demand for advertising on online video has soared, making online video very profitable. As a result, it's now possible for most major sites to offer video for free, cover their bandwidth costs and still make a profit."

October 25, 2005

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