Wednesday, May 6. 2009
This morning the world’s most powerful media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, made the bold statement that free internet will soon be over. Rupert Murdoch declared News Corporation will soon charge for newspaper websites and that he expects to start charging for access within a year because according to Murdoch: “having free newspaper websites is a 'flawed' business model”.It seems his Wall Street Journal online subscription revenues are what has opened the debate on whether to charge, particularly at such a shaky time for the press, explaining: "That it is possible to charge for content on the web is obvious from the Wall Street Journal's experience."
The whole of Murdoch’s empire will be considered in this decision – with UK publications the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun and the News of the World also in the online payment shift discussions, Murdoch said: "within the next 12 months‚" adding: "The current days of the internet will soon be over." A dramatic change to our online rights indeed.
Ad revenue in Britain fell by 21% and Murdoch revealed the Sunday Times is struggling with the tabloids doing better thanks to supermarkets’ print promotion spend. News Corp, like many large media organisations, has had to cut 3,000 jobs over the last year, although interestingly minimal journalists or "creative" personnel according to Murdoch.
But Murdoch is looking at this new option with optimism….
On the recession and state of the media in today’s climate, Murdoch this morning joked: "I'm not an economist and we all know economists were created to make weather forecasters look good," He also went on to say: "But it is increasingly clear the worst is over", predicting: "There are encouraging signs in some of our businesses that the days of precipitous declines are done, and things are beginning to look healthier."
But News Corp revealed that its interactive media division, which includes MySpace, had actually done less well. MySpace management was recently replaced as News Corp struggled to build a steady profit – yet Murdoch, renowned blunt business man, rejected competition from its larger rival, Facebook saying: "We're not going for the Facebook model of getting hundreds and hundreds of million of people who don't bring any advertising with them at all," he said.
The BBC also struck a similar chord recently by highlighting that people who watch online programmes are not obliged to pay for a TV licence and the BBC were also considering potential new ways to collect fees for content. The BBC last month argued that recent advances in the way people access television content need to be looked at, saying: "Legislative change is likely to be required in order to reflect technology changes in the licence fee regulations."
So will this new step by Murdoch to charge for online content pave the way for all other non financial newspaper websites? Will this see us revert to buying a good old fashioned newspaper to read on the train – or will we stick to our online and convenient media consumption? More importantly, will people begrudge paying a fee on principle? What will happen in this battle over content rights and whether one should pay or not?
Will someone as influential as Murdoch change the face of online newspapers, and will others follow suit – or will this end up isolating the News Corp brand and enable its ‘online friendly and free’ competitors to benefit? Get your money worth now and log on….
It seems his Wall Street Journal online subscription revenues are what has opened the debate on whether to charge, particularly at such a shaky time for the press, explaining: "That it is possible to charge for content on the web is obvious from the Wall Street Journal's experience."
The whole of Murdoch’s empire will be considered in this decision – with UK publications the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun and the News of the World also in the online payment shift discussions, Murdoch said: "within the next 12 months‚" adding: "The current days of the internet will soon be over." A dramatic change to our online rights indeed.
Ad revenue in Britain fell by 21% and Murdoch revealed the Sunday Times is struggling with the tabloids doing better thanks to supermarkets’ print promotion spend. News Corp, like many large media organisations, has had to cut 3,000 jobs over the last year, although interestingly minimal journalists or "creative" personnel according to Murdoch.
But Murdoch is looking at this new option with optimism….
On the recession and state of the media in today’s climate, Murdoch this morning joked: "I'm not an economist and we all know economists were created to make weather forecasters look good," He also went on to say: "But it is increasingly clear the worst is over", predicting: "There are encouraging signs in some of our businesses that the days of precipitous declines are done, and things are beginning to look healthier."
But News Corp revealed that its interactive media division, which includes MySpace, had actually done less well. MySpace management was recently replaced as News Corp struggled to build a steady profit – yet Murdoch, renowned blunt business man, rejected competition from its larger rival, Facebook saying: "We're not going for the Facebook model of getting hundreds and hundreds of million of people who don't bring any advertising with them at all," he said.
The BBC also struck a similar chord recently by highlighting that people who watch online programmes are not obliged to pay for a TV licence and the BBC were also considering potential new ways to collect fees for content. The BBC last month argued that recent advances in the way people access television content need to be looked at, saying: "Legislative change is likely to be required in order to reflect technology changes in the licence fee regulations."
So will this new step by Murdoch to charge for online content pave the way for all other non financial newspaper websites? Will this see us revert to buying a good old fashioned newspaper to read on the train – or will we stick to our online and convenient media consumption? More importantly, will people begrudge paying a fee on principle? What will happen in this battle over content rights and whether one should pay or not?
Will someone as influential as Murdoch change the face of online newspapers, and will others follow suit – or will this end up isolating the News Corp brand and enable its ‘online friendly and free’ competitors to benefit? Get your money worth now and log on….
