It’s been coming for the last decade, but could it really be just around the corner now? I’m talking about widespread charging for content. The idea has been tried many times before and generally fizzled out for two main reasons.
- People are accustomed to free content on the net
- If you charge for content, chances are somebody else will provide similar content for free, using the advertising model to make a few bucks
So whats changed?
The economy
Online advertising spends are down – most anecdotal evidence suggests that people are cutting back on all advertising.
Bandwidth and content production costs are spiralling – YouTube is losing 100’s of millions of dollars because their bandwidth cost is increasing faster than their advertising revenue. Rupert Murdoch has announced that he intends to charge for online access to the News Corporation’s collection of newspapers.
Venture capital is running dry – outfits like Twitter might have viral growth, but this growth is linked to growth in costs, and with no viable moneymaking plan, benefactor purse strings are tightening.
The Mindset
*madalena-pestana* – half of me
We’ve gotten used to buying stuff online. We trust in https and SSL and reputable payment gateways. Micropayments are becoming more popular, and nobody bats an eyelid at the thought of buying an MP3 or an iPhone app for a buck on iTunes. The easier and more secure these payments become, the more acceptable it will become to pay for content. A couple of cents for the day’s headlines, 20 cents to audition the new Coldplay album, a Euro to watch the lastest episode of desperate housewives in high resolution. The key to the new mindset is a small amount of money for an instantly accessible product/service via a secure, quick, easy mechanism.
Calm Down!
Of course, the majority of content on the internet will remain free, supported by the raw energy of enthusiasts and the advertising dollar. We will pay for better quality content, exclusive content, and content with some sort of value add.
