This morning I was walking the granddog in the neighborhood park and was serenaded to the sound of “Come here, Sky! Come back, Sky! Heel, Sky!”
You’ll find it as no surprise that Sky – a lovely German Shepherd / Husky mix, I think – came flying by a few seconds later, dragging his leash. He was friendly enough and wanted to play with the granddog, but we moved along.
The hapless owner kept calling out. He reminded me of that Psalm that Wooster likes to quote. “They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.”
As we walked out of the park two things happened simultaneously. Sky went flying by across the street, and a park ranger pulled up in his Ford Escape, rolled down his window and asked what the heck. I gave him the lowdown and continued my walk hoping the hapless dog owner got a warning, at least, for failing to keep charge of his dog.
The episode reminded me of two things: parenting, and publishing.
When I hear a parent say, “Stop that Johnny. I mean it Johnny. This is your last warning, Johnny. I’m going to count to ten,” and so on, I feel really bad for that kid, because the parent is training Johnny to ignore everything he says.
It reminds me of publishing because ever since the dawn of the internet, publishers have been training consumers to believe that their content should be free.
Funny coincidence – Bo Sacks just sent an email about Time’s experience after dropping their paywall. “Since then,” the article says, “Time has seen advertising revenues rise, digital subscribers evaporate, and traffic remain relatively flat.” The bottom line is that Time is not currently profitable.
It’s an interesting article, and I’ll link it below, but first I’ll give you two general thoughts.
First, there is no magic revenue solution that will work for every publisher. It’s good to read about other publishers’ experiences, but don’t think it will transfer to your content and your audience. Paywalls work for some and don’t work for others. Generally speaking, paywalls work better when the content is viewed as need to know, and is a significant step above what can be had for free.
Second, publishers have to stop reinforcing the attitude that content should be free. There has to be an exchange. You can pick any sort of exchange you like, but make it clear that the reader is paying for the privilege, and that it costs money to create what you’re creating. For example, if you’re going to use an ad-supported model, fine, but don’t allow people to use ad blockers.
We’ve been telling consumers that content should be free online for decades. It’s going to take some time to undo that damage, but we all need to start doing it – right now.
Of course this also ties into the AI problem. Having spent decades telling everyone that content on the internet is free for the taking, publishers are now shocked and appalled that their content is free for the taking.
Links
Time Dropped Its Paywall One Year Ago. Here’s What’s Happened Since
