Rupert Murdoch is set to charge online readers for news content – but how do you make people part with their money?
Cash for clicks – Kevin Anderson asks what can be learned from the music, video and games industries.
With the recession cutting into profits at News Corp, Rupert Murdoch (sic) has had a change of heart about charging for content online. In 2005, he predicted that the future of content on the internet would be driven by advertising. Now, he believes that if people want their news online, they will have to pay for it.
More people than ever are reading news on the internet, but organisations have yet to find a way to translate those huge audiences into the kind of revenues they had in print. A handful of newspapers, most of them financial papers such as the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, have instituted digital subscriptions – it is as yet undetermined whether the FT’s introduction of a pay-per-view model next summer will replace or exist in conjunction with its subscription service – and the New York Times charges per article for premium content in its archives. But the planned standalone Sunday Times site will be a trial run for general news providers – and with the advertising market dropping, Murdoch is not alone in looking to charge for online content.
But to what extent are users prepared to pay for it? Music, television and film studios, along with newspapers and magazines, are looking for ways to generate revenue from the web. While some consumers seem prepared to pay for premium content and convenience, most industries still haven’t found the magic formula to convince enough of them to do so. Are there any lessons that the various media can learn from one another?
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