Nick's Tech/Multimedia Marketing Mash

With the New York Times recently erecting a pay-wall the online world had come abuzz with opposing viewpoints on the matter. Some find the move incredibly stupid, others think it is logical and allows the NYT to show to advertisers that they do have a group of truly devoted readers and others plan to circumvent it in a astonishing variety of ways (through Twitter where a account was set up (and promptly shut down) that existed solely to tweet new articles and allow access to them through there, through search engines or by getting a print subscription and having a online toehold that way).

In their article, The Online Journalism Blog mostly touts the benefits of forcing heavy users to pick up a digital subscription (proof to advertisers that they are engaged, better metrics, new revenue streams) but I happen to disagree. I think that the way that the New York Times has approached the issue in regards to charging different rates for users on different platforms is going to lead to nothing but trouble for them. There has already been controversy brewing in the tech world for the effective price discrimination that they apply between smartphone (15$/month) and iPads (20$/month). Although price discrimination is the holy grail of economics I don’t think that they should apply it in such an obvious fashion.

Aside from the issues arising from their treatment of different user groups I agree with, and admire the way that the New York Times set up their paywall. For those who wish to circumvent there are ways for them and the others will pay for the convenience of being able to access it simply. Hopefully other newspapers can adopt models similar to these and help make their operations more sustainable so they can continue providing quality content to all of us who appreciate it. Its about quality over quantity, right?