Will readers pay for online news?
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Back in May, Rupert Murdoch said News Limited would start charging users for access to sections of its online news content. Is it a business model that will work, when web users have got used to getting the news for free?
In this edition of Twisted Wire we look into the user-pays model. We might pay for content if it satisfies our specialist interests, but are the major news publishers geared up to provide such a wealth of content?
The Fairfax approach is to use news to raise the profile of its family of transactional-based sites, where most of its online revenue comes from. The media company's approach to user-pays is to wait and see although it does, of course, charge (a lot) for access to most content on The Australian Financial Review website.
In this week's program we talk to three experts about the future for online news media:
- Jack Matthews, CEO of Fairfax Digital
- Peter Cox, principal of Cox media
- Gerd Leonhard, futurist in the media, technology and communication industries