NONE: Re: net business models
Re: net business models
S. Finer (xerxes_at_clark.net)
Fri, 23 Aug 1996 12:44:54 -0400 (EDT)
On Fri, 23 Aug 1996, George Harris wrote:
> I was surprised at his strong conviction that advertising revenues would
> provide the majority of the dollars necessary to pay the freight for the
> most businesses on the net, in a fashion similar to print and broadcast.
Advertising can provide considerable revenue to many, but not all sites.
But advertising must be adapted to the medium and not the reverse. Pricing
by impressions, as I have been saying here for about 2 months now, is NOT
the way to go for most sites.
>
> My experience has been that when I visit a site I usually have some idea
> of what I expect to find and that ad banners are slightly annoying delay
> between me and what I want to get to, i.e. the content. And I would
> gladly trade (read pay) some fraction of a penny for a bannerless page
> that loads faster and doesn't get between me and what I came for.
Which is a good reason to give people a choice. Some do not mind ads,
some like ads, some hate ads.....so let people choose to pay for ad-less
content if they wish, via microcharges, or watch the ads if they prefer.
The speed problem you mention may disapate with greater bandwidth
availability for dial-up users.......
> Given the huge momentum of free content on the web I can't see
> subscriptions of the type of the Wall St Journal Interactive, the $50 and
> up genre becoming a major factor any time soon.
Free content is frequently worth what you pay for it. I'll wager the WSJ
site will be profitable.....there are several in this price range that
I'll use. Millions will not immediately follow my example, but tens of
thousands will, probably this year. The Washington Post site will cost
less than a subscription to the paper version.......I'd rather have access
to their site than paper on my doorstep everyday.....
Subscriptions have a legitimate role.......
> I am wondering what the rest of you think about who's going to pay all
> this? And how?
users will pay for the valuable content that commands a population of
affluent readers......advertising will pay for content that people want to
pay for with their atttention rather than their dollars.....
FREE info will continue to be available for everyone else....some of it
will be worthless, some valuable, but the total uneven, and unreliable.
Content generators who desire recognition will pay for supplying this, as
the do today. Many already go through this process as a way of becoming
remunerated by the means mentioned above. Providing free content of value
will be a try-out or audition process......if you acquire an identifiable
following, readers who will pay or sit still for ads or sponsors, then you
move from amateur to professional status.
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