Print media is struggling to maintain their existing business model. Why? One fundamental problem is the Internet and the proliferation of freely available information. The other problem is one of effective advertising. While online advertising is exploding, print media advertising is tanking.
The solution? Unfortunately there isn’t a silver bullet. Turning to a primarily online format is an obvious direction, but in the world where online information is already expected to be free, publishers will be constrained to a business model that relies strictly on advertising revenue. Relying strictly on advertising revenue is a high risk strategy for large content providers. These large content providers are looking for other ways to monetize their online content.
Another solution? Micro payments in an Apple iTunes sort of model. But would such a solution actually be viable?
Check out the below clip where Charlie Rose leads a conversation with Walter Isaacson of “Time,” Robert Thomson of “Wall Street Journal” and Mort Zuckerman of “The New York Daily News” on the struggle of newspapers in the era of online content.
A great quote at around the 37 minute mark from Isaacson : “Google devalues everything it touches… Google is great for Google, but terrible for content providers”. Do you agree?
(Note that the discussion starts at around 27 minutes into the clip)
