Simple question - do you believe that one day all content will be free?

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Permalink Reply by Alix Paultre on June 23, 2008 at 8:59am

Sadly, most content is free already. Then again, people don't pay for content, they pay for the editorial filtering provided by the media they select. Do a search on any topic and you will find gobs of content from multiple sources. Even original content cannot be charged to the reader, it is a loss-leader to ensure readership to provide an ROI to the advertiser.

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Permalink Reply by Ashir Badami on July 23, 2008 at 3:56pm

Exactly. My initial response was, "Isn't it already?" If you know how to do a decent search on the Web, you can find pretty much anything you would want, not necessarily of the quality you want, but close enough in terms of content.

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Permalink Reply by David Willson on June 25, 2008 at 12:02pm

As I sit here in my studio, concocting arcane strategies to incite art directors and editors to offer me work as a writer, illustrator or editorial cartoonist ... any work ... I agree with Alix Paultre's comment "sadly."

However, I take issue with the underlying premise that "original content cannot be charged to the reader, it is a loss-leader to ensure readership to provide an ROI to the advertiser." I'm not sure it is a truth. This attitude that it is a thing of the past to cultivate and remunerate talented and professional content creators because we have to feed the ROI monster is an all to easy cop out from media management. After all, they can still make money shoveling drek in this time of rapid multi-media transformation.

Take for instance the current state of affairs for political journalism on cable news ... the incessant parade of talking heads, each representing a Web or print partnership, designed to regurgitate the same 50 speaking points round-robin until the dead horse is thoroughly beaten. Ultimately, how tolerant will the audience be of this editorial filtering?

It strikes me that, rather than punditry, we are in dire need of the thousands of fresh points of view true creative professionals can bring to the table. Unfortunately, by the time everyone involved manages to get over these silly technoconceits and figure this out, we creative professionals will have lost our inherent creative rights through an act of congress and be working in Wall Mart.

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Permalink Reply by Alix Paultre on July 8, 2008 at 2:15pm

David, when you say "This attitude that it is a thing of the past to cultivate and remunerate talented and professional content creators because we have to feed the ROI monster is an all to easy cop out from media management.", I think you misunderstand me.

Media that wants to succeed MUST have talented and professional content creators, it is just that the readers will not pay for them. They will come and read good writers, and patronize media that gives them good information. However, the remuneration will come from the sponsors chasing those readers.

The coin that most readers are willing to "pay" is in personal information. If the reader feels that the info is worth it, they'll register on the site to view that content.

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Permalink Reply by Marcus on June 25, 2008 at 4:06pm

Hi Rory,

I had the pleasure of speaking at SIPA in the US last month. It was a wonderful time!

Particularly for the SIPA crowd, I DON'T think that all content will be free. By their very definition, they're catering to highly defined audiences and delivering extremely targeted information. While the value of "general" "monthly" information may be devalued over time, the more critical the content, the more likely that it will retain value.

Moreover, I think we'll continue to see more of a shift in revenue... those publications that can no longer generate subscription revenue will find it in other places such as sponsorship.

All in all, I think what has changed is that the entire organization must be on the same page in terms of strategy. A strategy built around premium content can still be successful as can one built around free content. What isn't working anymore is trying to do both.

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Permalink Reply by Douglas Shore on June 25, 2008 at 6:04pm

Nice to know: free.
Need to know: not free.
The greater the need, the higher the price.

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Permalink Reply by Emerson Schwartzkopf on July 11, 2008 at 1:59pm

Free, yes. Unrestricted access, no.

Technically, many of us are offering free editorial in print anyway -- check and see how many people really pay the subscription fee to get your publication. Instead of reinventing everything, there should be an evolution from controlled circulation to controlled access, where you can search a Website as long as you like, as long as you've registered and given the demographic information that's requested, along with permissions on future e-mail traffic.

No, it's not a flip-a-switch thing. Nor will it be that easy to convince some readers online to dole out demographics (although you might be surprised). However, we need to go beyond the worldwide-circulation-shopper setup of just letting anyone wander in and see content without telling us who they are and why they're interested.

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Permalink Reply by Amanda on July 15, 2008 at 1:59pm

Maybe not ALL content, but editorial content will likely become free in my opinion in one way or another. Publishers are repurposing their paid magazine content into free platforms: blogs, videos, podcasts, etc. It's the same content, it's just distributed in a different way. I think we'll always be paying for something, but like anything on the internet, you'll be able to find the same information for free somewhere else.

The key is to make sure it's your site where they're finding it for free.

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Permalink Reply by Douglas Hebbard on July 21, 2008 at 1:00pm

I'd let you know, but you'd have to pay me first.

(In other words, some things have more value than others. My opinion on this subject, for instance, has no value whatsoever -- right? But if it were T Boone Pickens' opinion about hedge funds then THAT would have value.)

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