360°IT Blog

Can online paywalls really protect papers' revenue?

31 Mar 2010

From: 360°IT | Denise Plumpton

Can online paywalls really protect papers' revenue?

Denise Plumpton

I heard on the news last week that The Times and Sunday Times are due to start charging for access to their online news and other services later this year. The headline said the news organisation would charge consumers a daily rate, or £1 for a week’s subscription.

Now, I don’t know how many people access The Times' web site (or buy their hard copy papers) these days. I’ve heard, over the months, that the number of people buying newspapers is declining and that more people are turning to the (currently free) online alternative, so I can hardly blame the company for wanting to protect its sources of income.

But the issue for me is one of choice. There are people who regularly buy the paper to read. Many of them also use the online site as an archive to search at will. If, say, someone wants to re-read that article they saw in the sports section last Tuesday, they'll no longer simply be able to grab it from the web. Should they really have to pay twice for the same news (or more if they want to re-visit the article again once their daily or weekly subscription has expired)?

Even more interesting is the increasing tendency for businesses to offer certain information exclusively online. And not just media companies. For example, I know a number of recruitment firms that have completely abandoned traditional channels and only use web sites to publicise vacancies - mainly since it’s cheaper for the recruiter and tmost people looking for a new job in IT nowadays search online rather than reading an “old-fashioned" paper.

Returning to the current move by News International, it seems to me it raises many questions for businesses looking to place advertising. For example, how will it affect the cost? Will we see a complete move to 'online only'? Will companies need to cover more outlets - at a consequently higher cost - in order to reach as wide an audience as possible?

I foresee a complete overhaul of the media industry. What do others think?

Denise Plumpton is an experienced top-tier CIO and Non-Executive Director of 360°IT.

Tags:

content delivery, online information, online media, newspapers, recruitment, online advertising, open data, pay-per-view media, paywalls

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	Clive Longbottom
	09 Apr 2010 11:20

Murdoch will litigate heavily against anyone lifting content - but how about those who do "secondary writing"? It's unlikely that anything on the paywall will be so exclusive that there won't be other information around, and it should be easy for others in the free journalism/blogging environemnt to write something that is essentially their own, and so bypass anything that Murdoch can offer. Unless the papers move to a more value-add information basis (more of a LexsNexis approach), then definitely doomed. If they make teh move, then no longer a newspaper empire - its a value add content play. Can Murdoch manage such a change? I doubt it....

	Peter Holloway
	01 Apr 2010 09:45

If we are searching for sustainable businesses, then "dead tree" media in the age of the internet is just that... dead. What they haven't worked out yet is how to monetise. Their old business model doesn't work any longer, look at the music industry. When will they realise the older established leaders rarely if ever make it into the new era (Kodak). Make way for green shoots and a new entrepreneurial vision, there will always be good journalists. Sorry Mr Murdoch, your time's up!

	Jim Mortleman
	31 Mar 2010 13:03

The blogosphere’s abuzz with talk about the paywall, most of it derisory. Who's going to share links to paid content when there's plenty of quality journalism online that's still free? Paywalls were tried in the 1990s and failed then. Most of the people I speak to believe they'll fail again - probably even more spectacularly, since the expectation of 'free' information online is today even more firmly embedded in the public psyche. There’s an interesting interview on this subject with Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger at http://bit.ly/9C4TgW He accepts we’re in a period of experimentation and no one has yet found the right business model. He even welcomes the paywall as a part of that experimentation. But he says the Guardian’s online site (which remains free to view) would be viable commmerciallly (funded by advertsing) if it didn’t have to support the legacy print product. So I wouldn’t bank on your daily broadsheet being available on paper in 10 (or maybe even 5) years' time.