Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Will nyt.com charge for access?

"The New York Times, like all print publications, faces a quandary. A majority of the paper's readership now views the paper online, but the company still derives 90% of its revenues from newspapering. 'The business model that seems to justify the expense of producing quality journalism is the one that isn't growing, and the one that is growing -- the Internet -- isn't producing enough revenue to produce journalism of the same quality,' says John Battelle, a co-founder of Wired and other magazines and Web sites."

via Simon Waldman

The NYT has simply hit the nub of the dilemma earlier than most. My own feeling is that charging a cover price or subscription fee won't be the answer. I don't believe online advertising has come close to its potential in terms of creative and when it begins to - and broadband will have a serious impact in this context - we should expect to see business develop.

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