It’s finally here. A company has taken the plunge and started charging for online news, it was only a matter of time but will it work? Here’s my two penneths (or should that be £5’s) worth.
The problems with charging for online content have been debated numerous times and it boils down to this:
News stories are just that :- news. They aren’t owned by anyone and the fact that the BBC report news on their website (that, as license fee payers, we already pay for) means that people can always get news without paying extra.
What about specialist news I hear you shout! Again same problem, news is out there and there will always be someone who will offer it for free or write their own version and post it. How about a group of friends clubbing together and accessing the content with a shared username and passwords?
But it could work
The Internet is successful because it gives people a voice. Anyone can post content and that is never going to change. The sooner online newspapers and magazines can accept that and think of ways they can truly differentiate themselves is the time they can start to make money.
Charge to search and access archives
It’s the data and libraries of information that holds the key for these companies. Don’t charge for accessing up to the minute news information on your website, there is no point. Charge to access old articles and information and maybe even charge on per a search basis. Only major news websites will have the capacity to do this, and the fact that the information cannot be cross-checked and supplemented by what users hear on TV and Radio means they have a greater need to go to a respected source.
Micropayments
The article linked above states that Johnson Press are charging £5 for a three-month subscription. That price is enough for users to think twice when parting with the fee and each user is charged the same regardless of how often the service is used.
A new pricing model may be that of Micropayments. If a user is charged, for the sake of argument, 1p every time they read a news article they will not think twice about parting with that sum of money. The issue of micropayments have been around for a while so if you fancy a little bed-time reading then these links may be of use:
The Case For Micropayments
The Case Against Micropayments
Life beyond the browser
As many sites offer current news stories, as discussed previously, there is little point for charging for the data – on the browser. What about other devices?
Mobile has grown in a big way this year and the massive success of the iPhone means that users can be permanently connected. Online newspapers and magazines could charge for current content as they provide it to the user when they are not at their PC or laptop, by charging for apps. Again the key here is to offer something different, for example a searchable archive.
Many companies online struggle to create revenue, with Twitter being the high-profile case, but it should be possible with a shift in thinking.
Tags: BBC, iPhone Apps, magazines, micropayments, newspapers, online news
Simon Frost
“How about a group of friends clubbing together and accessing the content with a shared username and passwords?”
This has already been done – quite a while ago. It’s called bugmenot.com (though that is for bypassing compulsory registration to free websites, particularly newspaper sites, but the concept still holds).