A DIFFERENT TYPE OF AGENCY

As a collective, The Factory Interactive is fueled by a passion for developing enduring messages conceived through a marriage of design and technology. At the core, we are explorers of possibility and architects of memory. We create rich immersive experiences that increase message retention and reward the audience. Our mission: give personality to products, resulting in a stronger, more effective brand.

_{April 7, 2009}
Paid-For-Content?? The Great Debate (of the day, at least) _{By Ashley}

There has been a lot of buzz lately about whether media organizations should start to charge to view their content. And is the model that will save these companies from going under?

I have two trains of thought on this:

Thought Process Numero Uno: I think back to pre-iTunes days when I would use programs like LimeWire to download ALL of my music for free. The days of buying CD’s were long over for me. Then iTunes came along, and gasssp, they were going to charge for their music. I won’t lie… I boycotted for as long as possible. But then I saw the light… it was SO much easier and convenient to download off of iTunes. I always knew what I was getting and that the quality would be perfect; and on top of it all I was supporting the artists I enjoy.

I think it’s very possible that web-users will ultimately do the same thing with getting their news/videos. Most of us will be rebellious at first but soon enough we will see the light…and the value in getting quality content, and supporting the staff that work so hard to bring us this content. Of course, this all depends on how reasonably priced it will be. If companies are competing with each other for eyeballs, I imagine it will have to be pretty low cost.

Thought Process Numero Dos: Newspapers/Broadcasters will  be shooting themselves in the foot if they adapt a paid content business model. Why? Because there will always be ways to find similar, if not the same, content for free so we will never want to pay. Furthermore, according to a Knowledge Networks poll, 80% of online network TV viewers would prefer to view ads in exchange for unpaid video content, up from 67% in 2006. So clearly users will go to some type of extent to avoid paying fees for content. Can the same methodology be applied to a “print” ad before reading any articles? Seems like a plausible scenario.

The Associated Press unveiled rate cuts on Monday to help member newspapers reeling from declining advertising revenue and said it would also sue websites that use its members’ articles without permission. They have been the first to announce such an aggressive plan. I am very curious to see how this plays out, but I know one thing is for sure… I have read a lot of articles about their announcement this week and none of it seems to be positive. Let the foot shooting begin…???

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: ap, associated press, broadcasters, cable, content, itunes, newspapers, paid — @ 10:32 am

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1. [...] in April, I wrote about newspapers charging for their online content. After reading summaries of The American Press [...]

   Pingback by How much will YOU pay to read online news? | The Factory Interactive - The Revolution will be Digitized — June 4, 2009 @ 4:51 pm

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