Comments on: Pay Walls: Content Needs to Be Fee

By: The Pay Wall Revolutions — Tech Capital Partners Blog

The Pay Wall Revolutions — Tech Capital Partners Blog — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:49:06 +0000

[...] recently read “Pay Walls: Content Needs to Be Fee” by Mark Evans and there were a few things that caught my attention. I actually agree with [...]

By: markevans

markevans — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:03:19 +0000

Tac,

You make a good point about what RWW, TechCrunch and GigaOm are doing in terms of driving revenue from places other than advertising by doing things such as conferences, premium reports and other events. Newspapers could learn a lot by watching how some of these new content "empires" operation.

By: Tac Anderson

Tac Anderson — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:00:24 +0000

Why do people think that there are only two revenue models for newspapers? Pay walls and advertising? Look at what some of the top blogs like TechCrunch, Read Write Web , Ars Technica and GigaOm are doing. They are selling special reports, building exclusive communities, and still leaving their main content free.

I think these are just a few of the current options I think there is more innovation to come: http://www.newcommbiz.com/a-glimpse-into-the-futu…

Unless a newspaper truly has unique content the minute they throw up the pay walls 90% of the papers will go out of business. Why do you think Rupert hasn't pulled the trigger yet? Yes the WSJ will survive but he'll have to shutter most of his properties.

The reason newspapers are struggling is because they've made cuts in the wrong areas. They've cut their reporting staffs instead of cutting their bloated middle management. Their structure is wrong for the business model they are using.

I also believe that most newspapers should be privately held not publicly held.

Like you Mark, I wish the newspapers would hurry up and put up their walls so that we can let the carnage begin and the new business models emerge. It may be ugly for a few years but as a capitalist I have to believe that the Market will fill the gaps. It always has.

By: Tweets that mention Pay Walls: Content Needs to Be Fee | Mark Evans Tech -- Topsy.com

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:01:38 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Glenn James and Jackson Tuxhorn. Jackson Tuxhorn said: Pay Walls: Content Needs to Be Fee | Mark Evans Tech http://bit.ly/JBbnr [...]

By: Jacoline Loewen

Jacoline Loewen — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:30:31 +0000

Maybe markets under the age of 20 could be pulled over to paying online for newspaper content, particularly if it was .01c per day.
Baby Boomers are just never going to pay for newspaper content online personally for a whole host of psychological and social reasons which have been discussed for the past 15 years – ad nauseum. Accept that brutal fact. Once the newspaper publisher accepts that, how else can they do the business model?
First, look at the life blood of the paper – ad revenues. We all know there is a Chinese wall between advertisers and editors. There is your first paradigm shift required – to sell content into aggragators like TD Bank. For current editors, that idea is too much of a shift. Imagine though, if you looked at target market for content. Let’s use Margaret Wente who would be of interest to women Baby Boomers, a great target market.
Second, who are top richest Canadian companies – the big banks. Could you sell Margeret Wente to TD Bank’s Wealth section who are trying to add value to the day of a Boomer woman?
American Express gets early tickets to AGO and ROM special events. Why couldn’t TD Bank have early editions of The National Post only available to its TD clients? As TD clients log into TD, they would get the online National Post too for free. That would build client loyalty for TD and aggragate a readership for the newspaper, building a new habit of going online to check the bank balance and read the paper.
I'm out of time but these people need a serious strategist to bust down their dreams and get on with building the new world of media.