A bloggers guide to digital publishing pricing models

There are almost as many variations of the different pricing models as there are companies on the web. Everyone is trying to figure out what’s the best model out there in order to maximize either conversion, traffic or whatever they’re trying to do. In my previous post “To charge or not to charge, that is the question” I explained my take on pricing of online content and what I see as almost a paradigm shift in how consumer will consume information and entertainment. Since we haven’t yet entered through the golden gates to Shangri La, where content is freely available to everyone, I will now cover different pricing models suited for modern publishers and content producers.

To begin with what I won’t be covering here is the infamous pay wall model. My personal view is that, even though it might work for highly specialized publishers with their own niche audiences, it won’t work for 99% of the companies out there. Not at least as a single source of revenue. If the pay wall payment can be bundled together with for example my cell phone and cable bill or if I have the option to specifically choose what I want to pay for, then there is a change it could work. What the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat does very well is that they’ve enabled the customers to choose exactly what they want to pay for. In addition to receiving the traditional paper newspaper, customers can choose to add the iPad and mobile versions of the magazine to the order. They can also choose on which days they wish to receive all this. So for instance for a busy future business man like me, the iPad and mobile versions of the magazine might be enough from Monday to Thursday but I could still have the paper magazine on Friday, Saturday and Sunday when I have time to read.

During a time when publishers are becoming service providers and service providers are more and more becoming publishers, the differentiation into black and white is difficult and so is finding the best possible pricing model. Different ways publishers can approach this problem is by experimenting. If revenue from advertising isn’t enough, they shouldn’t isolate themselves from the web behind a pay wall, but they should develop new sources of revenue. Adding different services that meet the needs of different niche markets into an existing business model is one way to go. Examples of this can be found from the Daily Mirror’s MirrorFootball.co.uk, which provides highly detailed information about football in the UK and around the world. The page takes the sport’s section on the Daily Mirror site further by offering users more content and a change to bet on games. Until the industry standards and clearer game rules are established, the best bet for successful pricing should be a mix of little bit of everything.