One year till 'almost all' papers charge for online content says FT editor

by Dan Leahul, Brand Republic 16-Jul-09, 11:50

LONDON - Lionel Barber, the editor of the Financial Times, expects almost all newspapers to begin charging for their online content within a year, echoing News Corp's Rupert Murdoch's recent prediction.

Speaking at a Media Standards Trust event yesterday, Barber said the industry still needs to figure out a way to charge readers without turning them away, whether through a per-article basis, or subscription-based models.

Barber said: "How these online payment models work and how much revenue they can generate is still up in the air.

"But I confidently predict that within the next 12 months, almost all news organisations will be charging for content."

Murdoch said much the same thing in May when revealing that his News Corporation websites will begin charging for access within a year.

This month, the New York Times decided it would move ahead with its plan to charge for online content after proposing the idea to readers through a survey, asking: "How likely would you be to pay a $2.50 monthly fee -- which would be a 50% discount for home delivery subscribers -- for continued, unlimited access to nytimes.com?"

Access to the New York Times website is currently free, unlike News Corp's the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times, which offer some free content, but charge for premium access.

Comments

Joe Hughes - 16/07/2009

For very specialised papers like the FT this can work, for general newspapers no chance. Its been tried before and failed and that wasn't in the middle of a recession. The content in most newspapers is very rarely exclusive and there will always by other places I can get news for free for example the BBC, Yahoo, CNN etc. In the online world you can only sell data if you are selling it for less than the competition or if no one else has it. If the competition sells it for zero and you are all selling much the same data why would anyone in their right mind pay?

Jonathan Harris - 16/07/2009

I completely agree with the above statement. I think this is evidence of an extremely narrow minded view that the FT hold. Yes, the FT does have content and insight that others may not have, but one of the key advantages of online is accessibility, and anything that hinders this is not good. In the short term, FT may well end up making money from this, but as a long term solution for their falling revenues, this is likely to be a bad move.

Harry Wilson - 16/07/2009

I also agree with the previous comments, charging for online content will not work. I can understand why, but I believe the online newspapers need to find an alternative to moneytise their online content. After all the internet was originally set up to exchange free information. I have a few ideas !