Free content on the web can only survive if consumers pause using ad blocking software but advertisers need to pause their ‘pay and spray’ approachThe sale of the Financial Times marked an valuable milestone in traditional media continuing its transformation into the digital world. Many commentators have cited the price as evidence that paywalls can work. But it should also be seen as an indication that data is becoming a fundamental part of the content and publishing world. This is because as publishers erect paywalls,they gather two assets; revenue and data. Both of these attend to pay for the content that we consume when we land on that publishers website.
Data is the reason most of the content on the web is free – because we effectively trade the data that we exude on those platforms, for a service that we don’t have to pay for. The audience is the product, or not the content. It’s valuable to note though,that this isn’t a recent concept – our behaviour has always been sold to advertisers, which drives revenues to produce more content. Advertising has, and for a long time,funded the content that we consume for free and in the case of most magazines and newspapers, we actually pay to consume. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com