Even a blind pig can find an acorn now and then, and, in that spirit, The New York Times has discovered that cowering behind a paywall is a profitless pursuit of irrelevance. More from TechCrunch:
The history of paid content goes back to the collapse of the Web 1.0 bubble, a time before content monetization was a sure bet through programs such as Google Adsense and others. There was a backlash against free content for a while, and a number of companies launched pay-to-view programs. The New York Times was one of the last to maintain this model.
Surely, with the Wall Street Journal being acquired by News Corp, the WSJ pay-to-view program must now be on death row. Similarly, the Australian Financial Review’s paid AFR.com service has been rumored to be on its last legs for some time, and will shortly close.
Most importantly: this is a win for all of us. The notion of paying to access content is flawed in a connected online world where virtually everything is free, particularly content. Companies such as the NY Times can make money from providing content for free. The fall of the model for all publications is nigh.
Technorati Tags: disintermediation, real estate, real estate marketing
David Phillips says:
Oh how I love hearing this! There are few things more discouraging than trying to educated oneself online only to be forced into paid registration. Blogs strike me as a case in point on free content. It is effective marketing at no cost to the consumer.
September 18, 2007 — 7:54 am
Greg Swann says:
The better news is that the Times is opening up its archives for the last 20 years or so.
September 18, 2007 — 8:07 am
Chuchundra says:
I expect that the WSJ will keep their pay wall. Their readership is a lot different than your average web surfer and they do actually offer content that you can’t easily get somewhere else.
September 18, 2007 — 8:44 am