Enough Already About Charging For Content: How To Make The Free Model Work

traditional media businesses struggling to adapt to the changing business realities fueled by the internet and the macroeconomic environment. Many companies are trying to protect their bottom lines by putting up pay walls. However, this plan ignores two simple facts: (1) consumers are also struggling during these tough economic times; and (2) no matter how many businesses charge for online content, there are always going to be free competitors that will attract those same users.

Publishers of mostly free content like Yahoo! stand to benefit when media companies flip the pay switch. But the reality is that the paid model simply won’t work for many of the media businesses now seriously considering it because their users not only want the content to be free—they expect it to be free. Look no farther than the music industry for an example of what happens when content owners discount the behaviors and expectations of their most valuable users.  PaidContent.org

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