Pay-Per View Dot-COM's, the Next Evolutionary Step of the Internet?

[DARTH_MAUL]

Self-Promotion I know but an intersting topic for discussion. I just posted it so give it a read and post your thoughts. Think it could happen?Pay-per-view Dot-COMS

 

[konichiwa]

OT, but check the code in your sig.

 

[Esquire]

heinous, but it'll happen.

 

[prodigy]

Don't they already exist on pr0n sites.

 

[GoldenBear]

I just got through reading the first two paragraphs, and I have to say it's quite awesome.

 

[DARTH_MAUL]

wow thanks for the compliment. So you guys think it is gonna happen?

 

[GL]

It'll happen, but the vast majority of web sites won't be able to be successful off of this business model because...well...there's a lot of crap out there that people are willing to glance at for free, but will not pay for if they must subscribe to it.

edit
For example, if this were to happen to computing web sites, I can honestly say that I only see a handful of our beloved hardware sites remaining - AnandTech, Tom's, Sharky's (unfortunately), Ars Technica, and possibly HardOCP.

edit #2
This biggest stumbling block for subscription services is the fact that one person could subscribe to the service, and split the cost with X number of other people, providing them with the login/password to the web site. In fact, I can see this very thing happening with Napster. And how do you prevent one person setting up a proxy server that has access to the subscription server, and then allowing people free access to the subscription service through the proxy. There are many ways around it, and I suppose you have to rely on people's honesty. But don't expect these subscriptions to be anywhere near the level of paper magazines' subscriptions. I can see myself spending no more than $2.50 a month on my most frequented web sites. I already pay $40 a month for internet access, so any subsequent costs start to add up.

-GL

 

[DARTH_MAUL]

Actually I don't think it will be individual subscriptions. More then likely we will see package deals like we do with cable, Direct TV packages now. An ISP will bundle subscriptions to these sites with their service.

 

[GL]

I think that's the logical thing to think of, but it wouldn't work. Cable/Satellite packages work because you have a very limited number of channels (yes, even 500 channels is limited). The web has thousands of web sites, and it wouldn't be in the ISP's interests to categorize these into packages because there are simply too many categories and too little support for each package.

If anything, I can see cable companies coming up with their own mainstream content where they charge for this content (a la AOL and @Home).

I think we will see advertising again forming the basis for the majority of income for web sites. I think banner ads work as effectively as magazine ads, but a lot of people were expecting some sort of click-through rate that is just impossible. What you'll see are massive ad campaigns where all the major web sites show one particular ad at one particular time to increase exposure across all demographic groups. Kind of like how 20 million Americans can tune into a single TV show and watch the same ads, but on the Internet, you'll have 20 million people tuning into numerous web sites but seeing the same ad (which won't have the dimensions nor characteristics of banner ads...more like tiny windows with conventional ad videos).

-GL