"Twice, in the NYT's history, we experimented with charging for online content, first in 1996 and in 2006 with Times Select. We recently looked at the business models of more than 30 different online organizations to examine what was the most effective in generating online revenues. "What we have learned is that the advertising model we have used at the NYTimes.com has generated more revenue the vast majority of other organisations, including some that are much larger. Our goal is to add substantial new revenue from our users, without materially affecting our leading display advertising business. "As the ad marketplace, particularly in print, changes, we continue to explore different payment models and other approaches to generate revenues from our online content. We believe the rate of the decline in Q2 will be the same as the previous quarter."
Hi Gordon,
Paying for content. Hmmm...
We took my brother to Egypt on holiday last Christmas.
He loves to read a daily paper.
An Egyptian student studying accountancy approached him with his pitch.
"Sir I can get you any newspaper you like, just give me a couple of days."
When my brother asked him the magic question: 'How much?'
He quoted four times the price.
My brother muttered 'Oh well, I'll have done my bit to support a third world community and happily agreed to the deal. Once the deal had been done, the newspaper seller asked him if he could be careful with the paper, and once he had read it, if he could take it back, he would be most grateful.
What a terriffic scam. More money for old news.
We were so amused by this lovable rogues pitch, we both agreed to buy papers from him. Throwing caution to the wind, I told him to just get me the best newspaper he could. I ended up with The Sun.
When my wife found out what we'd been up to she went mad:
"Why are you paying this ******* all this money for a rubbish paper!
She retorted.
When the seller arrived, I decided to pull him up on video film.
I told him laughingly his paper was rubbish, it had no news, only pictures good Muslim boys like himself should not be looking at, and even the football results were bad.
He told me: 'I love the British, God Save the Queen, but Sir, please, you really should get another wife. Russians are awful people to deal with, they never want to pay for anything'.
My wife is Russian.
I said : 'I think I'd rather get another newspaper seller,
there's absolutely nothing wrong with my wife'.
It all boils down to attitude.
Kevin, thanks for sharing great story. You're right it does come down to attitude. No one in this lifetime or the next is going to pay to read the Sun Online - great tabloid newspaper that it is.
Pingback from Posts about gold as of April 22, 2009 | Shirasmane
Yes, attitude and...salesmanship. If a boy from Cairo can sell to my brother (A fickle comudgeonly tight-fisted Scot) The Times for four times the price, There
has to be a market to make a socially acceptable profit without uncontrolled greed that threatens Susan Boyle's career before it has even fully taken-off.
Gordon Macmillan
Blogging for:
Member since: 03 Jun 2008
Last login: 24 Nov 2009
Total Posts: 1,618
