Free content business model fails
Newspapers and other media give away their content because, it seems, free is the only way to engage with the internet; consumers simply won’t pay says prevailing opinion. Those who insist on being paid for what they do are deemed to have failed by industry thought leaders.
But in truth, it is the free content (albeit supported by advertising) business model that has failed.
Major publications are giving up on free content. They will lose readers, but so what?
The level of profit a media outlet generates is a more important measure of success than the number of readers, influence or whatever. Without profit, closure beckons and closure is failure no matter how you look at it.
Bizarrely, those at the cutting edge nod their heads vigorously at the idea that most media outlets should close or substantially reduce their activities to a small fraction of what they do at the moment. To do this would be to embrace failure.
Consumers have willingly paid for news from the times of the earliest printing presses. That many don’t pay now is not because they are not prepared to, but because they don’t have to. Media should concentrate on adding value; providing content written by well trained and rewarded, knowledgeable journalists with the resources to gather news on the spot.
Comments (No comments)
There are no comments on this post so far.
Post a comment