Thinking about a discussion with Michael Pollen on NPR this morning where he said that he hoped a valid model for online journalism might lead people to pay "25, 50 cents for an article". Hmm.. not a hope in hell. Well, maybe for Page 3 of the Sun.
Realistically, I might read a dozen articles in a day (at least in mainstream news as opposed to soccer news). So, given that my tolerance is something like a buck a day for paper news, I think I would be more inclined to buy online news at a price of $0.05-$0.10 per article.
Question is, with 66 million daily readers, why the NY Times couldn't make money with that model. Would people pay for it? Maybe a "gate" model would work. Come in, spend as much time as you like in a 12-hour period, read everything you like for a flat fee of $0.50 or $0.75. Paid for in a one-click manner. That would probably work for me.
For you?
Posted by artandscience at January 12, 2009 10:15 AM