"The era of free content is over"

Faifax's iPad app

A media issue that struck me at once was the article inthe Media section of The Australian which reads that the era of free content is over and that Fairfax would begin charging users for their online content. Will this genuis idea be embraced by online readers or will it boost newspaper sales? The company is launching an app which will be free for the first 6 months and then it will cost $8.99 for monthly subscription. There will be discount for 6 month or a 12 month subscirption.



Although the company states that they've been existing for 180 years and that content was paid for those 180 years, I am not quite sure whether people will be willing to do so once they have been introduced to the free online content. I am not used to buying newspapers and I also wouldn't pay for online content unless it is part of my job. I would say that we could get the news from somewhere else! When I am used to not paying for certain thing I wouldn't very happy to learn that suddenly in 6 months time I am supposed to pay to get the news online.

There has already been quite a lot of responses to the article saying that because of the wide range of choices people wpuldn't stay loyal to a newspaper if its content becomes paid. A comment on this article posted online reads: 

Steve Posted at 5:01 PM May 30, 2011



If their content is superior to free content then people will pay for it. Currently though, a large portion of their content is recycled from elsewhere and not the quickest source of news.

I totally agree with the abovementioned comment, usually people would pay if what they get for their money is better than what they ger fo free. I believe people would be reserved and wouldn;t jump into subscribing, probably they'd use the app for the first 6 months till it's free and then find another sorce of news which will be good enough to satisfy their needs.