Introducing the PayWall of the New York Times

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/business/media/21times.html' target='_blank'>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/b...ia/21times.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper&rsquo;s print edition will receive full access to the site."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1264013784.usr20447.gif" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>It had to happen eventually.&nbsp; Newspapers and magazines have tended to have a love-hate relationship with the Internet.&nbsp; On one hand, it opens up a huge market for distribution, but the problem is monetizing all those eyeballs, a persistent problem when it comes to content on the Internet.&nbsp; So The Times has chosen to go with the "freemium" model.&nbsp; Over the years, I've seen various methods tried, and I particularly remember Salon magazine trying to go with a "sponsored" model a few years back, where you would have to watch a few ads for a "day pass."&nbsp; I do not remember it working, though Salon is still around.&nbsp; I have doubts that the New York Times will successful as well with this model.&nbsp; I do not begrudge them wanting to make money and I do believe that traditional content still has a place in this world.&nbsp; Beyond twitters, blogs, vlogs and their kin, there is use for journalists and the articles they write.&nbsp; The problem is journalism, in the classic sense, can cost a lot of money.&nbsp; I only wish I knew of a solution.&nbsp; Any ideas?</p>

[doogald]

The Times tried to charge a few years ago for some of their content, and that failed miserably. We'll see what happens with this. Maybe they should, instead, come up with a killer iPhone app, along with a killer desktop reader, that costs a buck a month or something.

[Hooch Tan]

I remember a time when anytime I tried to access something, anything at the Times, they required registration. I think that's when they were charging as you mentioned. They are looking into various readers right now, and that might help. I hope they're not just thinking of this as a single approach to everything, but to test several different methods. Content is very easily copied and referenced, but not always easy to make, and there should be some business models that will work. It'll likely be based on convenience, now that I think about it, as that is what people generally will pay for. Like you said, a well done iPhone app or desktop reader.

[Jason Dunn]

Content is very easily copied and referenced, but not always easy to make, and there should be some business models that will work.

Indeed. If you look at this site for instance, it's probably 90% referenced content versus 10% original content created here. A lot of blogs have an even lower ratio - so someone needs to create the content; we can't have a world of people who reference and link but never create. Solving that problem is a tricky thing though!