NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Slate Subscription Fees
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Slate Subscription Fees
Kathy E. Gill (kathy.gill_at_boeing.com)
Tue, 23 Dec 1997 18:24:27 -0800
"Greg Bulmash" <greg_at_bulmash.com> wrote:
> According to a Dec. 22 note from Ad Age (caught it on the PointCast
> industries channel - Advertising), Slate plans to charge $19.95 for a
> one year subscription as of 1998.
>
> I don't read Slate, not due to any anti-Microsoft sentiment, but out of
> pure lack of interest. Considering the GVU survey which states that
> the main reason many people won't pay for web content is because they
> can find similar/comparable content for free elsewhere, I wonder about
> the feasability of this. Does anyone believe Slate's content is so
> compelling as to make it worth paying to receive? Does anyone agree
> with this price which is equal to if not exceeding the price for a
> snail mail subscription to most print monthlies?
(1) I won't buy it. I've not been than fond of the content or layout, on
the few ocassions I have visited to read a story.
(2) I pay more than that for the WSJ (is it $5 or $6 a month?) -- but
that's because I see value in the WSJ. This price, however, is LESS than
the subscription price -- but the content is also less than the print
edition. I'm even thinking about subscribing to the online version of SJ
Mercury News -- but then, I have a jrl degree and am a newshound! So I
think that people will pay for content -- but specific content (and, in
my case, associated with a 'brand' that I already know and like in the
analog world).
(3) Slate floated this a year ago and abandoned it -- saying that the
loss in readership would reduce their ad revenue more than the income
from subscriptions (read: very elastic demand). I can't imagine that the
market has changed that much -- or that their branding has worked to the
point that people will pay to visit.
(4) No, I find it difficult to swallow paying more for an online mag
than I would for a print magazine -- look at the difference (read,
reduction) in publication and distribution costs!
Where are the micro-payments to read the select story you are interested
in? Not $2 ... $0.02. Then you've moved into the realm where the extreme
elastic demand now works in your favor.
Kathy E. Gill
keg_at_dotparagon.com
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