Comments on: More evidence that free is better http://mathewingram.com/media/2007/12/10/more-evidence-that-free-is-better/ ...watching the intersection of the Web and media Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:44:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Mark Jackson http://mathewingram.com/media/2007/12/10/more-evidence-that-free-is-better/#comment-10930 Mark Jackson Tue, 25 Dec 2007 00:06:24 +0000 http://mathewingram.com/media/2007/12/10/more-evidence-that-free-is-better/#comment-10930 More visitors is not necessarily an indicator of success. Certain people (mostly anti-business types) will trumpet this as a success, with little justification. The bottom line is what matters. If you can not monetize the page views then you have a failed business model. Quality content is worth paying for. Anyone can give away content, and most do. If the NYT uses the page views to sell ad space or other NYT products then that is fine. However to date, most papers have shown how truly clueless they are about business. More visitors is not necessarily an indicator of success. Certain people (mostly anti-business types) will trumpet this as a success, with little justification.

The bottom line is what matters. If you can not monetize the page views then you have a failed business model.

Quality content is worth paying for. Anyone can give away content, and most do.

If the NYT uses the page views to sell ad space or other NYT products then that is fine. However to date, most papers have shown how truly clueless they are about business.

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