Comments on: Why does the paywall debate always have to become a religious war?

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:19:33 +0000

The readers are not concerned about the newspaper’s financial problems, so asking readers to solve those problems by requiring payment for previously free content, is intrinsically a mistake, because it makes readers feel like they’re being milked. The newspaper needs to offer something new that readers will go for, and then charge for that. The audience will see it as a fair exchange.

It seems to have been established that paywalls are a ride downhill towards extinction.

By: Scott Brodbeck

Scott Brodbeck — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:32:25 +0000

So the dinosaurs are constructing a new asteroid shield and telling the dinosaurs who aren’t getting under it that they’re stupid. So much time being wasted writing about this, when the end result is going to be the same — there is nothing that can stop the newspapers from collapsing around their bloated cost structure.

By: Greg Golebiewski

Greg Golebiewski — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:53:45 +0000

“In other words, the only available options that are open for debate seem to be a blanket paywall or no subscription products at all.” Well said, Mathew. This is exactly the tactic many have adopted in the discussion. And, it is appalling.

Having said that, your pushing the velvet rope strategy does not change much, either. There are many different models to monetize content. There is data showing some of them work much better than any paywall or rope. It is so frustrating to NOT hear a word about them. And yet, everyone claims to be discussing the issue more thoroughly than the other side is.

By: mterenzio

mterenzio — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 14:05:16 +0000

Right. Given a choice of seriously changing how every department does business or hoping a paywall will allow them to continue to conduct business as usual, most old school company leaders will choose the latter, especially if they have another eye on retirement.
It is what I’ve called the Vichy Regime of publishers that would rather trade off the uncertain for a stable but declining certainty.

By: jjj

jjj — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:12:48 +0000

Paywalls are shortsighted ,you limit growth,damage your image and paywall revenue can only shrink ,long term,as other publications do better.
Journalists are in no way qualified on the matter,not very sure why they get quoted so much, this is about understanding the customer and the internet.

By: Theli

Theli — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 06:36:22 +0000

The difference is that in the past they didn’t need to. A newspaper could have a local monopoly on a global news story. Even something as ubiquitous and trivial as the weather.

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 04:37:40 +0000

John, it’s awfully difficult to show that a newspaper has stopped innovating after a paywall, but I think it’s fair to say that many were not innovating in the first place — so a paywall certainly isn’t going to improve the odds of that happening.

By: John Zhu

John Zhu — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:45:07 +0000

Mathew, do you have recent examples of newspapers that have lost interest in innovating after implementing a paywall? The link in your second-to-last graf contains none.

My take: Any newspaper that puts up a paywall these days and then stops innovating wasn’t innovating before it put up a paywall. If the NYT’s paywall, by far the most successful of the recent wave, can’t solve all its financial woes, do we honestly think other newspapers following suit are seriously viewing it as a panacea?

By: Mark Loundy

Mark Loundy — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:17:37 +0000

Any comparison with the New York times is specious at best. There are people who consider a weather report by the Times to be “unique content.” Rhe overwhelming majority of newspapers simply don’t produce enough unique content to make a paywall viable.

By: Chris McCoy

Chris McCoy — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:47:16 +0000

My gut says future is a social data wall so publishers can own the native data to provide this monetization experience via content: http://gigaom.com/2012/12/04/content-and-commerce-collide-is-it-harder-for-publishers-or-e-tailers/