According to a current study, we’re not overly impressed with Rupert Murdoch’s plans to charge for use of his on-line news internet sites. Of 2,000 folks asked if they would ever spend for on the net news, 9 out of 10 stated ‘No!’. Does that imply that Murdoch’s selection to charge users to access his news web-sites is foolish?

I would not pay for news, either, unless…

If I have been asked ‘would you ever spend for on the net news?’, I would possibly say ‘no’, also. Just after all, in an age when we can generally read about big events on Twitter before any of the news channels report them, why would we ever want spend for access to their content?

On the other hand, I would, and usually do, spend for excellent and ‘luxury’ news. I would by no means pay a penny for one particular of the shrinking number of absolutely free newspapers handed out on my way to function in a morning, but I would pay for a Sunday broadsheet with all its extras and trimmings (even though the chances of me in fact reading more than a couple of pages are extremely modest).

I have also been recognized to sign up to a paid members’ region on the internet site of a specific football group (which shall stay nameless) to obtain access to additional content not available on the key web-site: video interviews and press conferences, highlights of reserve and youth group matches, live radio commentary on match days.

Would I spend to read The Sun on the web? No. There are generally only about two paragraphs in every single image-dominated post anyway. It only costs a few pennies to purchase the genuine point so there wouldn’t be much worth in working with its web site. The Instances? Perhaps, but only if all other good quality news outlets beginning charging, otherwise I’d just go for the absolutely free one.

Applying a Credit Card for a 20p Short article?

I’m not positive how considerably Mr Murdoch desires to charge his users to read an post, but I’m guessing there is going to be some sort of account that requirements setting up. I definitely couldn’t be bothered to get my wallet out just about every time I wanted to study something and I would be quite hesitant to commit to subscribing.

On the other hand, if they had a equivalent system to iTunes, whereby you just enter your password to acquire access to a paid report and your card is billed accordingly, that could possibly make a bit far more sense. But, if I had to do that for each and every key news provider, it would become very tiresome.

Ultimately, they could be shooting themselves in the foot to some extent. If the site tends to make it harder and significantly less easy for me to study an report, I will most likely go elsewhere. I would assume that I would constantly be in a position to read the news for no cost on the BBC’s website, which would not be good news for the advertising revenue of the Murdoch on the web empire.

Copycats

Assuming that I really wanted to study an short article on a paid site so badly that I handed more than my credit card information to them, what would cease me ‘reporting’ on what the article mentioned on my freely offered blog? I would think about it would be extremely really hard for a newspaper group to avoid thousands of bloggers disseminating the details freely to their customers who would gain lots of targeted traffic in the course of action.

techtodaynews.com for Results?

The good results or failure of paid news is in the approach utilised to charge and engage with users, assuming that the customers value the content very sufficient to deem it worth paying for. The jury is certainly still out on the whole idea and the probabilities are that several will attempt and fail just before a profitable technique is created. Until then, we’ll have to wait and see.