Mr. Murdoch, That's Not How The Internet Works
Monday, November 9, 2009 at 9:42AM 
Awhile back, Rupert Murdoch floated the idea that he might move content from his many internet properties behind "paywalls," and hoped other publishers would do the same, as evidently News Corp. isn't making enough money in online ads alone.
Now he's upped the ante. According to The Guardian, Murdoch has now said he might block google and other search engines from indexing his content. Really? The best way to get someone to buy your product is to make it impossible to find? Why not make daily papers available only on CD-ROM while you're at it. Let's try a retail analogy for a second. Let's say magazines in the supermarket weren't profitable (ok, so that part might not be so hypothetical). If you were the publisher of one of these magazines, would you then take it off the shelf, not let the employees know where it is, then expect people to pay to enter a back room where your magazine lived?
There are plenty of businesses that are doing just fine with ad revenue models. I'm not sure why some of the most popular and well known brands in the world would have such a hard time doing it. Maybe ten years ago, in the world of AOL's walled garden this strategy would make a shred of sense. Not now. The bottom line is, people expect their news for free, and while they would prefer to visit some of the names they've trusted for years, they will gladly switch to a free alternative.
Reader Comments (1)
The days of paying for content on the internet have passed. I think there are too many alternatives to turn to...everyone would need to charge for there to be a change to the pay model. And I don't see that happening.
(The NY Times tried putting some content behind a wall, and all it did was reduce readership.)