The End Of Free Media?

Sep 09

The End Of Free Media?

by Rohit Bhargava
Category: Digital Influence, Fresh Thinking, Influencers

imb_free_chrisanderson

What media would you actually pay to consume? That fundamental question is the most profound one driving all the discussion today about the future of media. Some believe the iPad and mobile tablet devices will reinvent how we read and consume media. Others feel this is just the latest in the overhyped and wholly exaggerated claims that old media is dying. At the recent International Newsroom Summit, The New York Times‘ publisher and chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. stated that he eventually expects that The NY Times will no longer be a physical newspaper.

While he declined to forecast a date when this might happen, his words are being seen by many as a prediction of the inevitable demise of the printed word. Another statement in his talk has received less attention, but perhaps may demonstrate a much more profound realization about the future of media:

“We believe that serious media organizations must start to collect additional revenue from their readers … information is less and less yearning to be free.”

On the surface, this is worth exploring … after all, what media executive in their right mind would predict that people actually WANT to pay for media? Especially in an era where Chris Anderson famously declared in his Wired article and book that “the rise of “freeconomics” is being driven by the underlying technologies that power the Web.” Seeing information or even entertainment as bits and bytes of information, however, is too narrow of a view. When someone buys the NY Times or a magazine or a DVD -they are not only paying for the media itself, but rather the experience it offers them.

For those people who sit down with a newspaper in the morning, it is not just the news that they consume, but also the sensation of holding the paper in their hands, turning the pages, the smell of the print and the ability to tear out a story or ad to save for later or share with someone else. That experience is worth paying for and will be for the foreseeable future.

The real challenge for media organizations is to understand on a deeper level what experience their subscribers are actually paying for. This is, I believe, at the heart of Sulzberger’s point and vision. Information on its own may indeed yearn to be free, but the experience around it is something that people have always been willing to pay for.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 9th, 2010 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Digital Influence, Fresh Thinking, Influencers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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4 Responses to “The End Of Free Media?”

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September 11th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
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Peter Hodges Says:
September 14th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
You make a great point about publishers having to reevaluate experiences for their audience. I was discussing this topic with a friend in regards to sports on TV. TV used to be the only way I could watch a game without physically attending. Now I can check Twitter, Google, etc. to get an update on the score if all I want to know is the outcome of the game. TV networks need to focus on selling their broadcast as the best way to experience a game because it’s no longer the only way to watch.

Consumers will pay for interesting and unique content. Howard Stern drove millions of listeners to pay each month for satellite radio. We are getting less and less interested in paying for the basic who, what, where, when that has been the domain of newspapers for so long. That’s the true problem Sulzberger, Murdoch and their peers have to confront.
prswooz Says:
September 16th, 2010 at 10:28 am
There is nothing like the ‘real Mccoy’ however younger generations are the future and are growing up in a world that is increasingly becoming online, this is what they will know and be used to. As older generations sadly drop off the radar there is perhaps less need for traditional print as it may slowly be losing its value within society.

‘Some believe the iPad and mobile tablet devices will reinvent how we read and consume media.(no doubt it will)Others feel this is just the latest in the overhyped and wholly exaggerated claims that old media is dying.’

It would be interesting to know the percnetage of opinions in ages, I suspect older people may believe this is exaggerated hype as traditional media is very much their era.

As technology grows at such a rapid rate we can only expect the world of electornics to take over, we only have to look at learning tools and toys children have today and that is their experience, they read books electronically, tis maybe their first experience, an experience that becomes engrained as does reading a newspaper for some??
prswooz Says:
September 16th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Media is hardly free when we must pay for services and technologies in order to gain information, it just feels free as we use the internet freely.