I started reading this PressThink post about the new TimesSelect service, the one-price-fits-all proposition The New York Times is now charging for content, specifically its columnists.
I agree with the article that the value proposition for readers is suspect because you might want just one out of the bunch. But if you value the voice of a Dowd or a Kristof or a Friedman, why not pay only for that writer in an iTunes-style pay model? Set it up for a 2-cents-per-download arrangement with the requisite DRM installed. PayPal could be used. Or, if the Times used iTunes API to build their own system (they’ve got the tech guys to do it), you could pay in advance and download at your leisure.
Not very nice for accountants but it might make sense for a reader.
With the individuality of the Web, I don’t quite understand why the Times is using the same business model every other newspaper uses for its print products, which are locked in because of the technology: You pay this much and we give you ALL of this even if you want just this (For example, you only buy the paper for sports). I know I’m not as smart as the folks at the Times, but geez.
2 Comments
Bad move by the Times. They are going to decrease their readership far more than raise any revenues.
It’s arrogant for them to think their columnists are worth a premium when there is so much great content and opinion for free on the web.
http://wcvarones.blogspot.com/2005/09/farewell-gretchen-morgenson.html
I understand how companies need to make money to survive.
But, please! Our paper has cut the Times service. We didn’t use it that much. It’s long, torturous prose, often coming in late, just wasn’t a necessity.
Part of the appeal of the Times is its voice through its columnists. But I wouldn’t read every columnist! That’s silly for them to think I’d want more than one or two. So, I get the two columnist I want for 25 bucks a year? And I get the other stuff I don’t want for free? Sorry, but that value proposition is unacceptible to me.
Here’s a deal, though. You go in with 10 of your friends and each drop 5 bucks on one subscription. You send to them the columnists they want and you read what you want. If you read two columnists a week for 48 weeks, you’re paying about 5 cents per column per week. Still a lot, but much better than the 50 cents per column per week for the two columnists you enjoy under their one-price-for-all model.