Why newspapers will die
There’s been a lot of talk lately in the newspaper industry about charging for the content online. It’s by no means a new idea – publishers around the country have been in favor of it exactly as long as they have been in favor of posting their content on Web sites.
Several newspaper Web sites have charged, or do still charge for their online content – the Wall Street Journal being the most notable among those still requiring people to trade dollars for pixels. The New York Times, who had a “premium” section of their site, reserved for paying customers, held on to that for a while before releasing everything. Even Slate did it, but that was a bit different from those last two, and any way, it didn’t work.
You see, most newspaper publishers today still think their content is worth something – that the days of creating and providing content are still with us, and that the public should be thankful that some benevolent force is willing to give them information at a relatively small price. Of course, that’s all utter shit. The internet was created to amass and distill information from anyone to anyone.
If newspaper are going to capitalize on anything online, it’s going to be the method of delivery.
That is, when I download a $1.99 iPhone app that lets me play Galaga, I’m not paying for the content – for hellz sake, I can play the game for free online at any time. I’m paying for the convenience and coolness factor of being able to play on my phone, whenever I want.
Newspaper needs to capitalize on that process, expand it well beyond iPhone apps, and then try to make some money. If you have to charge for anything (and I’m still not sure you do), charge for something that will make a deep and personal connection with your audience – something that goes far deeper than the latest city council brief.