It is no small task changing the habit of users to enjoy 'free' (i.e. paid for by the advertising revenue) contents towards the user paid content.
Not being an expert in this field, I am free to speculate that at least two models have some chances of success, pretty much as Bob outlined.
First off, you could provide premium content a la NYT. Quite a few people and many corporations and institutions will agree to pay a modest fee to have the access to the content they feel, is of some importance to them.
Second off, you can cater to a narrow community of very special interest whose members may not find sufficient free content on the web to meet their daily needs, and will be prepared to dish out a modest fee to get access to the contents that they want to enjoy.
The devil is always in the detail, as they say. One of the key elements of your big equation may be to establish financial targets, and then do some research on the viability of your project.
See, I see myself as a rational person. I have very few spending limitations, have never been frugal but pride myself in being reasonably careful with my money. By far, not out of need but out of attitude and belief.
I also enjoy gay porn as much as the next dude. Yet, I am not subscribing to any of the commercial sites whatsoever. There is so much perfectly free gay porn online showing precisely the very same movies that the commercial sites offer against subscription that I cannot, in all honesty, see any reason for me to pay for exactly the same content that is available through the very same media FOC.
I understand that all the studios would have closed a very long time ago if ALL the guys out there shared my opinion on this matter. And frankly, no one should object to people spending their money as they find fit. But I would really love to know why would anyone, (regardless of how much discretionary spending he can afford) be paying, say, $300.00 a year for the annual access to a typical premier porn site when each and every of their flicks, scenes, movies, etc. show up hours after the release on the free sites, at least one of which allows downloads, too, for free?
I would also love to know what would be the benefit (if any?) of subscribing to say, Spartacus online? What information would Spartacus online subscriber now access that Google does not provide for free?
At this time, my working theory is that those sites (porn & Spartacus; not NYT) depend on people who are basically giving donations because they have it in them to donate; they grew up in the culture that praises and holds donations in high esteem, etc.. I cannot see any rational/commercial/business sense in paying for something that is apparently available for free, too.
(One more side note: my ad blocking software works beautifully, so I do not get to feel much of the downside of the ads popping up out of nowhere.)
I would be very grateful to whoever chooses to enlighten me on these subjects.
KD
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