Options being considered by newspapers if they move away from free:
From: Now Pay Up, The Economist, 29 August 2009, p.60-61
- "Erect a pay wall around virtually all stories", successful only if you hold a monopoly on the news (e.g., for a region).
- Charge for a digital copy of the newspaper to download and read on a device: "Many publishers hope that people will come to accept the idea of paying for mobile news, as they pay for text messages."
- Charge for selected content. If the consumer is interested enough, they will pay. "In Britain, where fierce competition between national dailies probably rules out all-encompassing pay walls, newspapers nonetheless charge for crossword tips and participation in fantasy sport leagues."
- A meter system, as implemented by the FT. Users are charged if they want to look at more than 10 articles per month, which is flexible: "A newspaper might, for example, respond to a buoyant market for display advertising by allowing people to read more free articles each month."
- Micropayments: "Experiments with 'micropayments' have been held back by the fact that stories are much more perishable than songs, and by transaction costs. But small payments are becoming cheaper and easier to process."
- Demand revenue share from on-line aggregators, such as Google.
From: Now Pay Up, The Economist, 29 August 2009, p.60-61
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