Content is free(er)
So Rupert Murdoch finally said it: The Wall Street Journal Online is going free. Here’s the link — and soon you won’t need to curse when you click on it and hit that brick pay wall. (Here’s the AP version on the Times.)
On WSJ.com, Mr. Murdoch said, “We are studying it and we expect to make [the site] free and, instead of having one million [subscribers], having at least 10 million-15 million in every corner of the earth.” He said he believes that a free model, with its increased readership, will attract “large numbers” of big-spending advertisers.
I’ve argued in favor of dropping the wall. Lest I be accused (again) of wanting content to be free, I’m not saying that. I’m saying it already is. That horse has left the barn and has been running free for a decade. The reality of a networked media ecosystem is that free competition is always a click away. And as classified managers have learned trying to deal with Craigslist, free is damned hard to compete with. It just is.
But I think Murdoch’s move is about more than a business model and ad revenue. It is a shot across the bow of the New York Times. Watch out, neighbors, there’s a shootout in town. And it’s going to be damned fun to watch.
Tags: murdoch, newbiznews, nytimes, wsj
November 13th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
[...] kan även läsa Jeff Jarvis på BuzzMachine, som välkomnar de öppna [...]
November 13th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Jeff, your former friend Hoder, the blogfather, is in big legal trouble. An Iranian fellow at a Washington think-tank has sued him over his blog for 2 million dollars. You have always been a champion for free speech. He needs your support! If Howard Stern worth defending, I think Hoder is too. Read his blog for more detail.
November 13th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
[...] com a model de negoci per a la premsa digital. Més enllà d’això, també hi ha qui apunta a un gest directe contra el New York Times, ara que Murdoch té un gran diari nord-americà a les [...]
November 13th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
That’s great news, and long overdue, in my opinion. But, now what happens to my subscription money? (Not that it was really that much, but still. That’s probably a question better posed to Mr Murdoch.)
November 14th, 2007 at 2:12 am
[...] Jarvis made some insightful comment here where I originally read about this [...]
November 14th, 2007 at 10:56 am
oh. I guess this thing isn’t working…
November 14th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Marvel is charging for content online:
(from Reuters)
Robert MacMillan
NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters Life!) - Spider-Man may spin a good yarn in comic books, but Marvel Entertainment Inc hopes that he finds the World Wide Web equally comfortable.
The publisher said on Tuesday that it will start a Web site that will feature access to thousands of its comic books and the famous heroes who populate them, from Spider-Man and the X-Men to the Fantastic Four and The Avengers.
Marvel will charge subscriptions — $4.99 a month if people sign up for a year, or $9.99 a month if they don’t.
“This is a major new piece of my overall publishing plan,” Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Publishing, said in an interview.
“It’s a different entertainment experience, online versus reading a book.”
Marvel plans to offer access to 2,500 comics, Buckley said. It will make 250 available for free to entice people to pay up, but for a limited time, a company statement explained.
The Digital Comics Unlimited site then will add 20 additional books a week, including a mix of new and vintage comics.
Among the older titles will be the first 100 issues of “Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Fantastic Four,” as well as the initial 66-issue run of “Uncanny X-Men” and the first 50 issues of “The Avengers.” It will feature other super heroes like the Incredible Hulk, Wolverine and the Silver Surfer. Continued…
November 14th, 2007 at 11:32 am
[...] des Wall Street Journals kostenfrei zu stellen. Ein genaues Datum dafür gibt es aber noch nicht. Jeff Jarvis sieht sich bestätigt und freut sich schon auf einen sich verschärfenden Wettbewerb zwischen [...]
November 14th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
WSJ and NYT and all those old world 19th century and 20th century publishers have GOT to go free.
Nobody would give a dime for their lies anymore.
They are nothing more than corporate propaganda.
As such they are not fit to pay for.
What thinking person would pay to be propagandized?
November 14th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
For Eric Gauvin:
We have been observing the progress of Marvel comics now, for many of your years. This new move on their part is in accord with our vision of the cosmic-all, and was fore-ordained from time immemorial. While the efforts of Marvel are in accord with the logical progression of the sphere of things, we must remain apart, aloof…and only observe…
—The Watcher
November 14th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
@ Tansley…
What are you trying to say?
November 16th, 2007 at 9:44 am
It will be interesting to see how long it takes for people to acknowledge that it is free. A newspaper (http://gazetteonline.com) I work for put up a “gate” around 2000 and people still have it set in their head that our site costs money to use.