The end of paid content?

A number of sites are speculating that the reports that The New York Times may be ending its TimesSelect premium service -- and rumors that Murdoch may make WSJ.com free -- mark the end of paid content online.

"In the old world, where information was scarce, connectivity was scarce, and entertainment was limited, newspapers could charge for content," Steve Yelvington writes. "But for years the content pricing has eroded to nothing (25 cents for a newspaper ... get real), and newspaper pricing today is essentially about recouping some home delivery costs. Applying that model to the Web never made sense."

And Scott Karp writes:

The new economics of media make charging for content nearly impossible because there is always someone else producing similar content for free — even if the free content isn’t “as good as” the paid content by some meaningful metric, it doesn’t matter because there’s so much content of at least proximate quality that the paid content provider has virtually no pricing power. As smart, talented, and insightful as the New York Times columnists behind the paid wall are, the are too many other smart, talented, insightful commentators publishing their thoughts on the web for free.

Aug 07, 2007 | E-MAIL | SAVE | PRINT | PERMALINK | DISCUSS(0)
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