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Paid Content: The Debate Rages On
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Re: People won't Pay for Push
12/17/2001 1:34:38 PM
Posted By: Robert Spears

I disagree. The simple truth might be that people won't pay for what is already available for free. Granted, user generated content has proven value, but "push-media", in whatever form, will always play a critical role. To me push-media is simply an expert filter providing a subset of information (stories, links, opinions, data, etc.) for a given subject. In the US market, I think community sites have added much needed spice and perspective to the discussion of issues covered by the mainstream media. The combination of expert content with intelligent and raw individual opinions is a provocative offering.
People won't Pay for Push
12/16/2001 8:28:00 AM
Posted By: Henk Blanken

The simple thruth might be that people will never pay online for what essentially are push-media. Newsmedia are just the most visible of all, but there will be more. Being the editor of a newspaper-website in The Netherlands, I'd like to think that this unwillingness to spend money online is not just a Dutch thing, but an internetthing. My point of course is that the net isn't ours, it was never supposed to be a medium for the media, and it will never be. It's theirs. Not we, the journalists or broadcasters, the writers and storytellers, are in the centre of the net. They are. The users. Not our messages but their needs will determine what they will be paying for. I don't really like that, but maybe it's a fact that I will have to live with.
The Enemy is Us
12/15/2001 6:35:23 PM
Posted By: Robert Spears

Clearly there are too many free options online that continue to hamper efforts to receive money in exchange for content and service. In the March 2001 issue of Harvard Business Review, Michael Porter explained in detail how industry players created this unfortunate situation (see the article “Strategy and the Internet” http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/prod_detail.asp?R0103D ). Consistent with the premise of the article, you have to buy the issue or article if you want to read it.

I also disagree with the premise that online publications do not cannibalize their print cousins. I recently cancelled my weekday subscription to the New York Times and have not missed it, given their free website. I still continue to subscribe to their Sunday edition because I enjoy the leisurely activity of reading their long feature pieces in print. (Note: I am based in San Francisco and also subscribe to the local newspaper).
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