Sent: Monday, 11 May, 2009 8:12 PM
To: Abhijan Nandy
Subject: Free v/s Paid Content online
Hi,
Check both the articles appended below. Interesting debate on free v/s paid content online. Thought you would like to read it.
Regards -- Abhijan
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Micro-payments considered for WSJ website
By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Kenneth Li in New York
Published: Financial Times May 10 2009 23:31
News Corp is planning to introduce micro-payments for individual articles and premium subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal's website this year, in a milestone in the news industry's race to find better online business models.
"A sophisticated micro-payments service" will launch this autumn, Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of the Journal, told the Financial Times. The move will position the Journal as the first big newspaper title to adopt a model many are cautiously studying as they seek to reduce their dependence on plunging advertising revenues.
It comes as John Kerry, the senator leading congressional hearings on the future of journalism, told the FT it was conceivable that publishers could be given limited exemption from antitrust laws to discuss online models. Mr Kerry said lawmakers would not allow publishers to create hurdles to competition, but said newspapers looked like "an endangered species".
Mr Thomson said the Journal saw an opportunity in its US metropolitan rivals' weakness, adding: "We're going to move in on each of the big cities." It has begun marketing campaigns in cities such as Detroit and San Francisco, where local publications are struggling, having moved to broaden the title's appeal by playing up local political and sports coverage on its website. Several newspapers, hoping to replicate the success of business newspapers in charging for web content, are working with Journalism Online, a venture developing micro-payments and subscriptions.
Mr Thomson said the Journal was developing its own system to charge small sums to occasional users who might not pay more than $100 a year for a WSJ.com subscription. Pricing for individual articles and for premium subscriptions had yet to be decided, he said, but would be "rightfully high". The Journal has raised average print subscription prices 21 per cent since News Corp's 2007 takeover, but saw advertising fall a third in the first quarter.
Its premium plan will focus on readers interested in energy, commodities, wealth management and other niches. Premium subscribers will have web access to Dow Jones newswire stories, representing a "consumerisation" of the group's products for companies.
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India Today Chief: No More Investment In Digital Media, Can't See The Returns
By Patrick Smith
Tue 05 May 2009 08:16 AM PST
Aroon Purie, chairman and editor-in-chief at The India Today Group, India's largest magazine publisher by revenue, spoke today at the 37th World Magazine Congress in London. At a panel discussion on Global Economic and Media Trends: Riding the Storm with William T. Kerr, chairman of the board, Meredith Corporation; Carolyn McCall OBE, Chief Executive, Guardian Media Group; and John Smith, Chief Executive, BBC Worldwide, Purie said he has decided to not spend any more money on digital media. His disillusionment with the medium mirrors that of several Indian publishers, who enjoy robust profits from their traditional properties and see no point in investing in new media, where they don't enjoy proportionate returns in the immediate
term. And with the economic slowdown eating into their main revenue streams, many are reportedly revisiting their digital operations.
Digital cutbacks, mobile future: You won't find many newspaper or magazine editors or publishers admit they are cutting back on digital innovation spend, but that's exactly what Purie is doing: "I have a revolutionary view: I said we're not going to spend any money on this digital business because I don't see any money coming in right away and I want to monetise things."
Away from PC-based viewing, Purie sees the real potential in mobile: "There are around 320 million mobile phones in India and we add 10 million every month. That for us is the future."
Time travelling: Asked about the future for India Today, Purie said he wasn't, but he stressed the need to continue to invest in editorial content both in print and online. "We're fortunate in India-the problem we have right now is a short-term problem and it will be resolved. And the advantage of being in a developing country is that you can go to the future and come back; I can see what's happening in developed countries and imagine it will happen to us."
Digitally dumb: Purie says he goes on fact finding missions to the west, but he was less than complimentary about the prevailing media business models: "The digital model that is being followed in developed countries is a pretty dumb model. You have. one monopolist newsstand like Google who is giving your content out free and then competing in selling digital advertising. Where is the business model in this?" He said that unless a paid content model could be found, publishers are "all spending money, spending dollars to chase cents". But Purie has the advantage of time: "I hope that this model is sorted out in the West and by the time it comes to us we have it all up and running."
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