>From Edupage:
>
>SLATE DROPS SUBSCRIPTION FEES
>Slate, Microsoft's online journal of news and commentary, will now be free,
>as part of an aggressive company strategy to focus on development of a Web
>site. For the past year, Slate has been offered to subscriber at a rate of
>$19.95 a year. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 13 Feb 99)
>
>
>SO how much longer do you think Bill will subsidize this effort?
If Slate can't support themselves on ad revenue, they're doomed.
I think it will be years (if ever) before online publications like this are
able to charge for access.
I pay for Consumer Reports Online. It's worth it to me. But that is unique
information backed by a decades-old brand name that has established a bond
of trust with its customers.
The Wall Street Journal web site also charges. Again, the same situation.
Slate does not have the brand, the trust, or the compelling content to
charge for it. Nor does almost any other online publication.
And note that CU and the WSJ have never derived the bulk of their revenue
from ads (in fact, CU is ad free), whereas most publications are almost
entirely ad-supported. Major commercial publications typically derive
60-90% of their revenue from their advertisers. Subscription revenue is
only a small percentage of their total revenue stream.
As publications move online and reduce or eliminate their production and
distribution costs associated with moving pieces of paper around, they will
stop charging for a subscription and rely entirely on advertising.
This is not bad news for small publications, since web production costs are
a small fraction of what they now pay to print and mail out their product.
In fact, small publications and online-only publications will flourish. An
example of such is a site my wife and I run,
http://www.women-connect-asia.com/. We have one sponsor and although the
amount is quite modest, it's enough to make the site feasible. Of course,
we're looking for more :>)
Barry
--
Barry Lee Brisco <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Web Design & Development - Online Marketing <http://www.ToTheWeb.com>
Web portfolio at <http://www.ToTheWeb.com/portfolio.html>
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