2 Responses to “FAIL”

1. SixDegrees Says:
   March 17th, 2009 at 1:35 AM

   Subscription sites have been tried countless times – with dismal results. The reason is simple: they’re not at all the same as hardcopy subscriptions. Whether I subscribe to a paper or not, I can still get a copy at any newsstand, or pick one up off the bus seat. Subscription is a matter of convenience, not access. Advertisers know this, and pay for all those incidental eyeballs.

   Online subscription-only sites are just that – they exclude the bulk of the eyeballs needed to generate significant ad revenue. A paper – or “media service” – might be able to turn a profit if they act solely as a wire service, repeating what others have gathered. But you’re not going to staff a city desk or run reporters with this kind of revenue.

   Even worse, online ad rates are falling dramatically with the economic downturn. My own site has the same click-through-rate it did a year ago, and is making half the revenue per click, as advertisers divert their money to more profitable and reliable venues – like print. Now is the worst possible time to be starting a for-profit Internet venture of this kind.

2. km Says:
   March 17th, 2009 at 9:09 AM

   What do you expect from the media?
   .
   The media is the ObaMessiah’s biggest booster – and can’t see that stealing a governmental economic policy from Marx & Lenin is a bad idea. With that sort of financial (and human nature) accumen, how could they not think the PJM model was nifty?