photo credit: Raúl A.
The economics of news are changing, as the web forces prices down. What’s the future of the newspaper? I don’t know, but it’s almost like the early days of radio again. Back then, everyone wondered how it was possible to make money from radio, because with the right equipment anyone could just pluck it from the air.
Hundreds of companies were founded and dozens of business models were tried, including a pay for use model, but ultimately most failed. In the end, it was the detergent company Proctor and Gamble who saved radio. They came up with the idea of sponsoring dramatic serials. With that, the soap opera, and mass market advertising, was born.
The moral of this is simple: eventually, someone will figure out a way to make money with online news and the newspapers of tomorrow. It will take some time and plenty of businesses with unsustainable business models will fail, but a successful method will emerge. That’s the nature of capitalism.