Availability - at a token price.
Since the inception of the web, almost nobody has succeeded in making money through
providing content on the internet. Very few models exist that stay afloat and
earn money, and continue to provide worthwhile content. Advertisements still help
maintain some sites, but there doesn't seem to be enough to go around, and the
ads that exist frequently don't generate enough purchases to convince others that
online ads are worthwhile. Because good content can often be copied and distributed
freely, content-intensive sites can't always be sure that offering quality will
be enough of an incentive for readers to pay for that content. I've tried to examine
some of the dilemmas related to this issue in an
article in Hebrew.
Salon.com seems to have come up with a functional solution. They offer a free
day pass that allows readers to get to any and all content they choose for
a full day. All a reader has to do in order to get the pass is to endure four
or five screens of advertising. It's possible to return to the site again and
again, day after day, and, after viewing the advertisements, get a new pass each
time. I don't know whether readers who sit through these advertisements buy the
products being advertised (which is usually a self-promotion for Salon.com), so
I don't know whether Salon.com is making money via this approach, nor whether
it will continue (which is probably a function of its ability to bring in the
funds). I do know that it allows me to link to important articles, confident that
anyone who wants to read them will be able to do so.
Go to: Sorry, no bootleg available, or
Go to: It's all in the game.