Web users will have to pay for what they watch and use

[cityforums.com]

Anybody care to comment on what Barry Diller said.

Are you going to start paying for access to content ?

Diller Calls Free Web Content a ‘Myth, Joins Refrain (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

 

[equity78]

This has been a long time discussion for the big companies in the traditional and online media space. The Wall Street Journal has been able to successfully charge a subscription fee, but how many will be able to go the subscription route ?

Iger from Disney is also quoted and sure for a reasonable fee they could have a subscription for certain web properties that offer value and are perceived to be superior in the consumers mind. Disney has the advantage that their characters are universally known and that children will keep asking their parents for Disney related material. What is a parent going to say ? "Instead of watching Mickey Mouse, you will watch Ricky Rat."

I doubt most will be able to do that, certainly no one will be paying anything for Diller's top web properties, Ask.com someone is paying to search ? NO 100 %, Expedia to read travel commentary ? No 100 % His line that its a myth is a joke and odd coming from such a smart man. Free is searched on the Internet more than anything right up there with porn, so if they believe that all content will be paid for they seem to not have a handle on the average user. Plentyoffish.com showed Barry and his match.com how you give it away for free and still make money. If they all went to 100 % paid subscription that would open the doors for many new Free content sites to do well. Again IMO

 

[cityforums.com]

This has been a long time discussion for the big companies in the traditional and online media space. The Wall Street Journal has been able to successfully charge a subscription fee, but how many will be able to go the subscription route ?

Iger from Disney is also quoted and sure for a reasonable fee they could have a subscription for certain web properties that offer value and are perceived to be superior in the consumers mind. Disney has the advantage that their characters are universally known and that children will keep asking their parents for Disney related material. What is a parent going to say ? "Instead of watching Mickey Mouse, you will watch Ricky Rat."

I doubt most will be able to do that, certainly no one will be paying anything for Diller's top web properties, Ask.com someone is paying to search ? NO 100 %, Expedia to read travel commentary ? No 100 % His line that its a myth is a joke and odd coming from such a smart man. Free is searched on the Internet more than anything right up there with porn, so if they believe that all content will be paid for they seem to not have a handle on the average user. Plentyoffish.com showed Barry and his match.com how you give it away for free and still make money. If they all went to 100 % paid subscription that would open the doors for many new Free content sites to do well. Again IMO

Equity78 ... like you I thought we already saw this movie play out several times ... yet some

people are rewinding it and trying to give it a different ending.

 

[labrocca]

People thought cable TV would fail because you could already watch TV for free.

I offer paid subscriptions at some of my sites. It does very well. I see no reason why popular sites with a loyal following would have qualms about paying for premium services. If NP started such a paid subscription I would pay immediately.

Diller predicted there will be three revenue streams: advertising, subscriptions and transactions.

I think he is right. There will however always be free content but subscriptions will continue to rise. I have a netflix subscription for 3 movies at a time. I haven't bothered to get a movie sent to in months but I watch the online movies almost every day. I would gladly pay more too if their online library expanded.

Movie studios could easily start their own sites and offer release-date viewing to subscribers.

In that article it's mentioned how Disney is working on a subscription model too. It only makes sense imho.

This also cuts out Google from the revenue stream. I make so much more money from subs than advertising. Why bother plastering ads everywhere when you can just ask users for a small monthly fee?