Years from now, I’ll be regaling all seven of my blog readers with stories of the salad days of the early-21st century Internet, when free content was abundant. The Times just announced that it will charge frequent readers an as-yet-undetermined subscription fee beginning in 2011. Hulu also indicated that it would begin charging users to access the more popular shows in its catalog. At this rate, I’ll have start moonlighting as a bartender just to afford my various Internet subscription fees.
This retrenchment of paywalls was probably inevitable. Web advertising is sustainable revenue model for some businesses, but it’s not enough to support a major newspaper or unlimited video streaming. However, this will only work for a handful of established brands whose content is already highly valued by consumers. I’ll gladly pay five bucks a month to get unlimited access to the Times, but I probably wouldn’t pay a single penny to the Star Tribune.
