• News site counts on readers to pay for experience
    18 replies, posted
[quote] A NEW website called Ongo wants to charge people US$7 (S$9) per month to look at news that is for the most part free elsewhere. Yet the people behind it - former eBay Inc executives - believe there's a large audience of heavy news consumers who will pay for a site that pulls together quality stories in one place and lays them out in a clean, ad-free format. 'Are they willing to pay for content? Doubtful,' Ongo Inc CEO Alex Kazim says. 'But they would pay for a better experience. Someone is willing to pay US$2 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks when they could go to McDonald's and get it for US$1.' The site, which launched on Tuesday, has financial backing from some of the biggest US publishers. The New York Times Co, The Washington Post Co and USA Today publisher Gannett Co have invested US$4 million each. Online advertising has not generated enough revenue for newspapers to offset declines in print, so charging on the Web has surfaced as a potential solution. But that's difficult when readers have scores of free options elsewhere. So if a free aggregator of news and opinion, such as the Huffington Post or Google News, is McDonald's coffee, what makes Ongo believe it's got a better brew? For starters, Ongo is going for a smoother reading experience[/quote] [url]http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/TechandScience/Story/STIStory_628394.html[/url]
"Someone is willing to pay US$2 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks when they could go to McDonald's and get it for US$1." Maybe because the coffee is better at Starbucks? The news at this site would be the same as anywhere else, just with a couple of easily dismissed hurdles to jump through, such as ads etc.
Guess they never heard of adblock or other nifty addons that Firefox or Chrome offers.
This is a giant waste of money
[QUOTE=Rong;27659670]Guess they never heard of adblock or other nifty addons that Firefox or Chrome offers.[/QUOTE] [quote] Online advertising has not generated enough revenue for newspapers to offset declines in print[/quote] You'll only push more news agencies towards charging for news. It's the future of the business.
Usually, information brokers only sell information no one else can get you, not stuff you could get for free somewhere else.
[QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;27660306]Usually, information brokers only sell information no one else can get you, not stuff you could get for free somewhere else.[/QUOTE] Someone's gonna subscribe to this then leak anything that isn't anywhere else to everyone
[QUOTE=dragon1972;27659629]"Someone is willing to pay US$2 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks when they could go to McDonald's and get it for US$1."[/QUOTE] Yeah, a better metaphor would be if you could get coffee for free at Starbucks and McDonald's, and they were starting a new business where you had to pay for coffee.
[quote]Yet the people behind it - former eBay Inc executives - believe there's a large audience of heavy news consumers who will pay for a site that pulls together quality stories in one place and lays them out in a clean, ad-free format[/quote]You know what? Maybe some forum out there on the internet should open up a free dedicated news subforum, maybe tucked away in a more general discussion type subforum where users could pull together quality stories in one place and lay them out in a clean, ad-free format. oh wait
[QUOTE=helpiminabox;27660831]You know what? Maybe some forum out there on the internet should open up a free dedicated news subforum, maybe tucked away in a more general discussion type subforum where users could pull together quality stories in one place and lay them out in a clean, ad-free format. oh wait[/QUOTE] Yeah, you know that caused Garry to get sued... right?
[QUOTE=DogGunn;27660857]Yeah, you know that caused Garry to get sued... right?[/QUOTE] And what's happened since? Because I haven't heard the outcome of it yet.
[QUOTE=helpiminabox;27660893]And what's happened since? Because I haven't heard the outcome of it yet.[/QUOTE] No idea - but news providers clearly need some way to earn an income - and it either has to come from ads or subscriptions. (Garry's case is a little different though due to how they bought the rights to the article)
[QUOTE=DogGunn;27660857]Yeah, you know that caused Garry to get sued... right?[/QUOTE] And then they dropped the case.
[QUOTE=GhostSonic;27661036]And then they dropped the case.[/QUOTE] Where'd you hear this?
Why don't they just get coffee for free at home?
Not gunna last.
And this is why I don't get newspaper.
It's funny really. News and all that is just information. And in the digital world information is coming at everyone from all sides at a million miles an hour from hundreds of outlets. Charging money for information is becoming a thing of the past. Well, at least this type of information
[QUOTE=TH89;27660655]Yeah, a better metaphor would be if you could get coffee for free at Starbucks and McDonald's, and they were starting a new business where you had to pay for coffee.[/QUOTE] A world of free coffee... Your Utopian vision speaks to my soul on the deepest of levels.
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