In acquiring an electronic reading platform called Skiff and in making an investment in Journalism Online, a company co-founded by Steven Brill, that develops pay models for newspapers and magazines, News Corp. has validated our prediction that 2010 is the year of online subscriptions.
Rupert Murdoch is literally putting his money where his mouth is. It's going to push others to take Journalism Online more seriously. And expect that by 2012, we will be paying access to a lot more online news content.
Check out the prediction, Prediction #3: 2010 will be the year of online subscriptions.
Showing posts with label year of online subscriptions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label year of online subscriptions. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Murdoch to Build Paywall Around the London Times -- Will Others Follow?
A fierce proponent that newspapers need to charge for content, even if available online, Rupert Murdoch is putting your money where his mouth is. News Corp. papers, the Times of London and the Sunday Times will establish a paywall and start charging online readers as of June 2010.
The planned fees are not significant --£1 for one day's access or £2 for one week's access for those who don't subscribe to the print edition. (Print subscribers will get free online access.)
What is significant, is that, as AdAge noted in an article, "New Test for Paid Content as Competing News Sites Remain Free,"competitors to the Times of London "such as The Guardian, The Daily Mail and The Daily Mirror remain free for all comers." (It's interesting to note that AdAge offers a hybrid approach, with some free articles and some available behind a paywall.)
So will readers pay for online access to the Times of London, when they are not used to paying for content? Will they merely shift to competing online sites? Or will those sites start charging online readers for access?
There are some who think Murdoch is making a bad decision. Well, not just a bad decision. TechCrunch sees it as evidence of The Madness of King Rupert.
My guess: That more paywalls are inevitable because newspapers need the revenue stream, and can't afford to give away content. We're a long way from the dot-com era, when sticky eyeballs were everything. They're still important, but now publishers need those eyeballs to contribute more than just boosting ad rates.
At the very least, this latest move continues to validate our prediction in calling 2010 the year of the online subscription.
The planned fees are not significant --£1 for one day's access or £2 for one week's access for those who don't subscribe to the print edition. (Print subscribers will get free online access.)
What is significant, is that, as AdAge noted in an article, "New Test for Paid Content as Competing News Sites Remain Free,"competitors to the Times of London "such as The Guardian, The Daily Mail and The Daily Mirror remain free for all comers." (It's interesting to note that AdAge offers a hybrid approach, with some free articles and some available behind a paywall.)
So will readers pay for online access to the Times of London, when they are not used to paying for content? Will they merely shift to competing online sites? Or will those sites start charging online readers for access?
There are some who think Murdoch is making a bad decision. Well, not just a bad decision. TechCrunch sees it as evidence of The Madness of King Rupert.
My guess: That more paywalls are inevitable because newspapers need the revenue stream, and can't afford to give away content. We're a long way from the dot-com era, when sticky eyeballs were everything. They're still important, but now publishers need those eyeballs to contribute more than just boosting ad rates.
At the very least, this latest move continues to validate our prediction in calling 2010 the year of the online subscription.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Another Prediction Appears to be Correct: Viacom Drops Daily Show & Colbert Report...
We predicted that 2010 would be the year of online subscriptions, and today's news from the Wall St. Journal report, "Hulu Loses Stewart, Colbert," appears to support that.
According to the Journal, the reason Viacom, which owns Comedy Central, which produces The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, is pulling those programs from Hulu.com is that it was not seeing enough revenue from Hulu.com.
Hulu.com, which is advertising supported, shares a percentage of the advertising dollars with content producers. For Viacom, even those two very popular shows were pulling in pennies on the dollar from Hulu.com. So the company decided to pull the shows.
Hulu.com will survive without those two shows while people can continue to watch them on their computers by going to Comedycentral.com, where Viacom can keep all the advertising revenue without having to split it with Hulu.com.
But it's another push for Hulu.com to move forward with an online subscription offering. Which is the conclusion the WSJ had. Given that Hulu.com is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is a big proponent of online subscription fees, we bet that before Sept., Hulu.com will unveil an online subscription model.
According to the Journal, the reason Viacom, which owns Comedy Central, which produces The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, is pulling those programs from Hulu.com is that it was not seeing enough revenue from Hulu.com.
Hulu.com, which is advertising supported, shares a percentage of the advertising dollars with content producers. For Viacom, even those two very popular shows were pulling in pennies on the dollar from Hulu.com. So the company decided to pull the shows.
Hulu.com will survive without those two shows while people can continue to watch them on their computers by going to Comedycentral.com, where Viacom can keep all the advertising revenue without having to split it with Hulu.com.
But it's another push for Hulu.com to move forward with an online subscription offering. Which is the conclusion the WSJ had. Given that Hulu.com is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is a big proponent of online subscription fees, we bet that before Sept., Hulu.com will unveil an online subscription model.
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