Free or Fee? 
19 million reasons to consider
a pay for content site. 


Anyone surfing the Internet lately has more than likely
encountered quite a few paid subscription sites. Or in
some cases, part free and part fee.

For quite some time now everyone has been enjoying
the free ride that the Internet has offered ....... but are
those days quickly coming to a end?

According to a recent survey 42% of online adults
expect that one day they will have to pay for online
content. This figure is down 3% from a survey taken
in August of 2000. Still, all signs are pointing toward
paid sites.

Current predictions are that revenue from paid online
content will go from $1.4 billion in 2002, to $5.8 billion
by 2006.

Why are more and more sites going from free to fee?
In a word, revenue. When the dot-com bubble burst
in 2000, ad sales hit the skids and sites were forced to
find other ways to be profitable.

For a lot of web sites, paid content is paying off big time. A couple of
prime examples are RealNetworks and AmericanGreetings.com.

RealNetworks started charging $10-$20 a month for
their content about 3 months ago and they already
have a half-million subscribers!

In December of 2001 AmericanGreetings.com began
charging $19.95 for access to their previously free
e-mail greetings. At this writing they have garnered 1
million members.

ABC News has already ended its free video clips and
CNN is removing their free video clips this week from
all their sites. Other sites are sure to follow this trend
and before you know it you will have to pay for just about everything that
used to be free for the taking.

Jupiter Media Metrix recently did a online survey revealing that "70% of
online adults can't understand why anyone would pay for online content."

What I'd like to know is why do they feel as if everything should be free?
Is the Internet any different than a brick
and mortar business? When was the last time you went shopping at your
favorite store and came out with bags of free merchandise? Since when did
your local car dealership start giving out free vehicles?

We all need to get a grip on reality and face the fact that the Internet
isn't any different than the newspaper or magazine that you pay for. The
day of the freebies are surely numbered and before you know it it will all
be over with. If not, more and more dot-coms will go under. They simply
can't afford to maintain and promote their site with a zero dollar budget.

Now the question is what and how much will you be
willing to pay for? Consider this, ConsumerReports
already has over 800,000 subscribers shelling out $24
a year for their online magazine. That's $19,200,000.00 per year! I don't
know about you, but that's over 19 million reasons to consider a pay for
content site.



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Rhonda Rosser is the webmaster of http://makingnetmoney.com and the publisher of MakingNetMoney Journal. To subscribe send a email to: mailto:makingnetmoney-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

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