Last week, the New York Times removed its pay-for-content site Times Select. Even though the paid subscription base was reportedly 227,000, the NY Times decided it was not worth the effort. In his Guardian column, Jeff Jarvis looks at the winners like Google and the losers:
The death of TimesSelect heralds the continued triumph of the open, free Google media model… I think the loser could be the power of the media destination or portal – the notion that consumers should come to us and pay us for scarce information that we control. The death of TimesSelect is an affirmation of the new media reality that says the public will seek out our brands less and less and will detour around the front doors we design for them. Instead, they will arrive because of their own need (via search) or peers’ recommendations (via links). So we in media must open ourselves to the public in every way possible. Tearing down walls – pay, registration, archive, or just obtuse navigation – is only the start of it. I believe this also means finding more ways for our audiences to distribute us: we’ll widgetise. And I believe that we must think like Google and see ourselves as platforms on which others build that larger conversation.
It does all remind us a little about a meme we keep going back to: what happens when advertising pays for everything?
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUpon
