Bad news for Murdoch – Few people will pay for online content
The Internet has changed everything. The old guard in sectors of the media such as television, newspapers, radio and the like are having to deal with everything switching to the Web. And some are coping better than other. Rupert Murdoch wants to start charging for all online content produced by his newspaper, but he may find this is a step too far for most people.
Why pay for cable when Hulu exists? Why go to the movies when torrent sites exist? Why buy a daily newspaper when the content is available online in a speedier and more-digestible format? These are questions facing the long-established media companies which have had things all their own way for decades and made fortunes from maintaining their strangleholds on their respective sectors.
Newspapers are finding things especially tough. Many are going out of business while others are facing annual losses due to falling readerships. The problem stems from how easily accessible news is on the Web. Many newspaper have taken the line of, “If you can’t beat them, join them,” and have online editions. But falling Internet advertising rates have meant even those aren’t profitable, and definitely incapable of propping up the print editions.
The obvious solution is to hide all content behind a pay wall, requiring readers to pay a subscription to read articles on the online editions of newspapers. Which is exactly what Rupert Murdoch is planning to do with all his News Corp. properties. The plan was first revealed in May before being confirmed earlier this month.
However, according to Brand Republic, a survey of 1,000 U.K. media consumers conducted by TheMediaBlog suggests Murdoch may find this a tough sell. Just 28 percent of those questioned would be willing to pay for online content they formerly got for free. That 28 percent would only pay for articles by columnists, with 13 percent happy to pay for exclusive interviews.
The problem for Murdoch and other proprietors of newspapers looking to charge for online content is that most things are available elsewhere. And all the while there’s a free alternative out there, very few people will choose to pay.
The only chance Murdoch has is if all news sites start to charge, in which case people would gravitate towards the top end publications such as The Times. But despite the growing popularity of ad blockers making subscription models more likely, there’s little chance of this happening.
Back to the drawing board Rupert.
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August 11th, 2009
It’ll be a miracle if this works. As I point out in my blog http://bit.ly/11JVa1 , free sites will always exist and consumers will simply visit those to the detriment of sites that charge.