Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica; Hulu to charge for content, but needs to sweeten the deal:
Would you start paying Hulu for content that you previously got for free? The company's backers sure hope so, and they want to stick some content behind a paywall as early as 2010. "It's time to start getting paid for broadcast content online," said one exec.
"The free-for-all days of Hulu may soon be over. News Corp. executives indicated (again) this week that the free, ad-supported model wasn't bringing home enough bacon and that the company was preparing to start charging users for content as soon as 2010. This news comes as a harsh reality check to dedicated Hulu fans, and Hulu will have to offer them more than just a browser-based stream if the company wants people to start forking over money.
"I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value," News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey said at the B&C OnScreen summit this week. "Hulu concurs with that; it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business.""
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/10/hulu-will-have-to-add-benefits-if-it-wants-to-start-charging.ars
Showing posts with label free versus paid debate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free versus paid debate. Show all posts
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
They Pay for Cable, Music and Extra Bags. How About News?; The New York Times, 4/7/09
Via The New York Times: They Pay for Cable, Music and Extra Bags. How About News?:
"Just a year ago, most media companies believed the formula for Internet success was to offer free content, build an audience and rake in advertising dollars. Now, with the recession battering advertising online, in print and on television, media executives are contemplating a tougher trick: making the consumer pay...
“People reading news for free on the Web, that’s got to change,” Mr. Murdoch said last week at a cable industry conference in Washington...
But from networks selling downloads of TV shows, to music companies trying to curb file-sharing, to struggling newspapers and magazines, the make-or-break question is this: How do you get consumers to pay for something they have grown used to getting free?
Some industries have pulled it off. Coca-Cola took tap water, filtered it and called it Dasani, and makes millions of dollars a year...
All of these success stories offered the consumer something extra, even if it was just convenience...
“With downloads, the benefit is that the paying services allow you to sample many songs free, and you know it’s legal, and the TV shows have no commercials...
The free-versus-paid debate is a recurring one. At the birth of the Internet many sites charged for content, but by the late 1990s the prevailing view was that market forces favored free content...
Getting customers to pay is easier if the product is somehow better — or perceived as being better — than what they had received free."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/business/media/08pay.html
"Just a year ago, most media companies believed the formula for Internet success was to offer free content, build an audience and rake in advertising dollars. Now, with the recession battering advertising online, in print and on television, media executives are contemplating a tougher trick: making the consumer pay...
“People reading news for free on the Web, that’s got to change,” Mr. Murdoch said last week at a cable industry conference in Washington...
But from networks selling downloads of TV shows, to music companies trying to curb file-sharing, to struggling newspapers and magazines, the make-or-break question is this: How do you get consumers to pay for something they have grown used to getting free?
Some industries have pulled it off. Coca-Cola took tap water, filtered it and called it Dasani, and makes millions of dollars a year...
All of these success stories offered the consumer something extra, even if it was just convenience...
“With downloads, the benefit is that the paying services allow you to sample many songs free, and you know it’s legal, and the TV shows have no commercials...
The free-versus-paid debate is a recurring one. At the birth of the Internet many sites charged for content, but by the late 1990s the prevailing view was that market forces favored free content...
Getting customers to pay is easier if the product is somehow better — or perceived as being better — than what they had received free."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/business/media/08pay.html
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