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.

The “Free model” for on-Line publishing is dead

The growth of paid online services under the Financial Times banner shows that the paper was right to maintain pay walls at a time when other media companies were yielding to the Silicon Valley mantra that “information wants to be free,”

Now The Financial Times is adding to its paid-content strategy with a plan to accept micropayments for individual articles, as an alternative to a subscription.