Will people pay for content?

Paid content seems to be getting a lot of coverage at the moment (not just on this blog!). E-consultancy have put together a nice list of the Five Biggest Paid Content Myths:

• Nobody pays for content
• Content just wants to be free
• We need micropayments
• Content is a commodity
• 
Paid content is a solution to the print media's woes

It's an interesting read. One of the comments makes the very good point, that we'll always have the issue of the BBC and their (IMHO) excellent online content in the UK.

I've also attached an article about the success of the Financial Times, which has been charging since 2002.

Read more:
http://econsultancy.com/blog/4389-the-five-biggest-paid-content-myths

Financial Times doesn't want to be free:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/business/media/17ft.html

"Social news" on the Huffington Post with Facebook

The Huffington Post have been working very closely with Facebook to create Social News on the Huffington Post. It's a much deeper use of Facebook Connect than has been seen before and both sides are hoping that it will be beneficial. Huffington Post want to become the place to get your news on Facebook and comment.


http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090816/huffington-post-and-facebook-go-social-with-connect-on-steroids/

How virals spread

Spanish scientists have researched how memes spread across the web. It depends upon how "infectious" people are, how quickly virals spread and from this: who gets the viral and how infectious they are.

Read more:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17581-infectious-people-spread-memes-across-the-web.html

Kids search for the funniest things

Some interesting statistics on what children search for online have been revealed in a report by Symantec. They search for sites (YouTube, Google, Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo), Celebs (Michael Jackson, Fred - a new one to me, but he has the most subscribed YouTube Channel, Eminem) and of course Sex (sex, porn, boobs).

Read more:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-10306357-235.html

Facebook eats Friendfeed

Facebook has acquired startup FriendFeed. Facebook say that they did it to attain the "the best engineers". FriendFeed employs many ex-Google employees - whom I'm sure that Facebook will be keen to have in their building! Initially the two sites will remain separate, but much of the functionality of FriendFeed will eventually come under the Facebook site.




http://www.facebook.com/press/releases.php?p=116581

http://blog.friendfeed.com/2009/08/friendfeed-accepts-facebook-friend.html

Scan with your mobile

M&S have started to use QR codes on their products to provide more information and to give access to exclusive offers. Although QR codes have been around since 1994 it's only recently that the technology has become commonplace to read them on the go. Now that most mobiles have cameras with a high enough resolution to read QR codes and have access to the web, a simple lookup is possible. By scanning a QR code the user can then be taken to a website for example. The applications here are endless...


http://www.crackunit.com/2009/08/07/qr-enabled-ms-orange-and-mango-juice/

Increase in Online Video Streaming

Apparently Americans have taken to streaming TV show and movies online like ducks to water, according to the increasing online viewing stats.

I was particularly interested by the following line:
"This is more than two times the levels measured in September 2008, and indicates that - fueled by ad-supported websites that make it happen..."

They think that it's ad-supported websites that make it happen. Which would beg the question whether it was a good decision by various big players, notably Disney and Rupert Murdoch, to be making users pay for content online in the future.
Is the uptake good because it's free? Or because people actually want to watch these programmes and are willing to pay for them as well?

The monetisation of the web, whether it be video, news or music is a particularly hot topic at the moment, and one that I don't think anyone really knows how it is going to pan out. I'm sure that what people are willing to pay for will vary in different industries.

http://www.marketingvox.com/hulus-growth-fuels-rise-in-online-video-streaming-044799/

Murdoch makes you pay

Rupert Murdoch has said that he will introduce payment for content on all News Corp sites. This includes: foxnews, Times Online, The Sun, News Of The World, New York Post and Wall Street Journal (which already charges for content).

Murdoch wants to distinguish the journalism on the News Corp sites. By ensuring it is of a high-quality, he thinks that people will be willing to pay for the better sites. It is unsure of exactly how the payment scheme will work. This could be by subscription, or micropayments per article or both.

I'm unsure of whether this will ever be completely successful, especially when there are free sites such as the BBC News in the UK, but many sites are looking to subscriptions at the moment. See Spotify in Europe and Hulu in the US.


Read more:
http://www.marketingvox.com/murdoch-empire-to-charge-for-online-content-next-year-044800/

What other people have to say about it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/06/charging-content-sunday-times-website

Guardian FAQs:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/06/charging-online-content-murdoch-faqs