Previously, a few scoops, exclusives,
timely features and a smattering of sexy imagery could lure an audience
who would perhaps forgive what is typically a majority chunk of
otherwise irrelevant content and advertising, which collectively
provided a sense of mass and value in your hand. Online audiences no
longer care about all the accompanying bulk and are only interested in
the top slice of relevant content and can now skim that selectively in
a relative instant. Without that 'captured' set of eyeballs, an online
version of the same thing can't hope to deliver any advertising value,
at least not in the same way.
In my humble opinion there are only two ways out and that's to
amalgamate print brands on a less is more basis to fewer titles and/ or
create online tribes of loyal members by packaging the top content to
relate to hardcore audiences and then serve that mix as a membership
option. (Monthly mag + platinum site access + unlimited Kindle et al
downloads and a big hug from the boss = $x per month/ annum)
Personally, the reason I'd walk past the rack at a departures lounge
is that I've already packed my laptop with all the best of what I care
about, so paying for some dead trees just makes me even more guilty for
flying in the first place. Noone can fix that in a traditional
way...and as for charging for content Rupert, it's like me submitting
an invoice to Facebook for using my content to sell ads around...kinda
pointless!
Previously, a few scoops, exclusives, timely features and a smattering of sexy imagery could lure an audience who would perhaps forgive what is typically a majority chunk of otherwise irrelevant content and advertising, which collectively provided a sense of mass and value in your hand. Online audiences no longer care about all the accompanying bulk and are only interested in the top slice of relevant content and can now skim that selectively in a relative instant. Without that 'captured' set of eyeballs, an online version of the same thing can't hope to deliver any advertising value, at least not in the same way.
In my humble opinion there are only two ways out and that's to amalgamate print brands on a less is more basis to fewer titles and/ or create online tribes of loyal members by packaging the top content to relate to hardcore audiences and then serve that mix as a membership option. (Monthly mag + platinum site access + unlimited Kindle et al downloads and a big hug from the boss = $x per month/ annum)
Personally, the reason I'd walk past the rack at a departures lounge is that I've already packed my laptop with all the best of what I care about, so paying for some dead trees just makes me even more guilty for flying in the first place. Noone can fix that in a traditional way...and as for charging for content Rupert, it's like me submitting an invoice to Facebook for using my content to sell ads around...kinda pointless!