RE: Beyond Advertising: Pay-site content, non-adult, non-financial?

From: Simon Lusted <simon_at_thatgame.com>
Date: Tue 06 Mar 2001 11:36:30 -0600

C. ANTONIO ROMERO <romero_at_alumni.princeton.edu> WROTE:

> With the culture of "everything's free" winding down on the
> Web, what do people think about this strategic move? I know
> that years ago it proved tough for slate.com to charge for
> access-- they stagnated around 20,000 readers. But now,
> could the market be ready? And how does one set a price?

I think pay for content on the web is a long way off. The net
has developed an intense 'free content' culture, most consumers
aren't feeling the pinch like the content developers/publishers
are so where's their incentive to accept that they now need to
pay. I guess you could argue that the decline of quality content
will force people to pay, but if this is the case it's still along way
off.

Besides, with the consolidation we're seeing in content (cnet/zdnet
and internet.com) I think free content may become more viable for
fewer players (as they increase their reach and the content market
is seen as less fragmented by major advertisers like FMCGs etc).
The great hope for content IMHO is the development of new devices
markets where the culture is less ingrained (wireless? interactive
TV? not sure but they've got a better chance than WWW)

If you do try it, try a tiered, premium service. Don't turn off
some info, keep what you've got free, free and fresh but add a
more rich level on top of it. That's my 2 cents.

Simon
*------------------------*
Simon Lusted
Marketing Director
www.thatgame.com
ThatGame Pty Ltd
innovators take it all



Received on Tue Mar 06 2001 - 11:36:30 CST