Moves towards charging online are gaining momentum

Consumers who want to read subscription content on the websites of these publications will be able to do so using one universal Journalism Online account. As described before, publishers will be able to choose their own approach to paid content and pricing strategy, with 16 payment options. The payment platform has been named as the Reader Revenue Platform. According to JO, "a website with one million monthly online visitors could over time expect to earn new revenues of $5-10 million; one with five million online visitors could expect new revenues of $25-50 million." 

One of the most interesting aspects of Journalism Online is its commitment to bundle content and offer consumers all-you-can-read packages across multiple brands. This would allow avid news readers to (at a cost) maintain their current online reading habits, jumping freely between news sources. It is unclear as yet exactly how this would work and could be, as Alan Mutter pointed out, extremely difficult to implement. 

Meanwhile, News Corp seems to have decided that getting other publishers involved in charging online is indeed the way forward.  The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that News Corp executives have been meeting with publishers to discuss forming a consortium to charge for news online and that distributed on portable devices. According to the LA Times, it is believed that chief digital officer Jonathan Miller has met with the New York Times Co., Washington Post Co., Hearst Corp. and Tribune Co.. Dow Jones reported that Fairfax Media Ltd. chief executive Brian McCarthy said that the Australian publisher would consider teaming up with News Corp to charge for online news on an integrated platform

News Corp appears determined to start charging online in the near future with or without a consortium, with reports that the Sunday Times' new independent website will be used as a test case for charging online. News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch recently reiterated his commitment to charge on all the company's newspaper websites within a year. The News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal already charges readers for some content online, although as a specialist financial publication is has a clear advantage over others. 

The WSJ's UK rival business paper, the Financial Times, is in talks to introduce an iTunes-inspired pay-per-article system, according to the Independent on August 7. Consumers would be able to purchase access to individual articles otherwise available only to subscribers. Currently, subscribers have full access to the papers content at a cost of about 327 euro a year, and other readers can view up to ten articles a month free. It seems that the ten free articles would still be offered. 

Micropayment strategies (pay-per-article) were debated at length earlier this year. Ease of use seems to be a crucial factor for the success of such a scheme, as well as a suitable pricing strategy. When drawing parallels with the music industry, it is necessary to remember the significant differences between buying a song, which the consumer is likely to listen to again and again, and buying an article which may well only be read once. Article pricing should reflect this disparity. 

Publishers will undoubtedly be closely watching the FT's payment strategy: could it be the start of a trend towards the adoption of micropayments?  And more immediately, will Murdoch succeed in forming a consortium of publishers keen to charge online, and will Journalism Online manage to provide its partners with the promised increases in revenue? 

Source: Journalism Online press release, Los Angeles Times, Press Gazette, Independent, Dow Jones