Murdoch and Curley: Google Pay for News!

The shift of breaking the news into desirable streams is going to continue, no matter the bombastic attitude of Murdoch and Curley. Millions of people, myself included, do not want to receive all of the Wall Street Journal in our inboxes, however, we are each willing to "pay" for certain parts of it.

The "wisdom of the market" will dictate how to pay content providers for their news steams. Supply always meets demand at a price; setting the right price is the tricky part.

Since electronic delivery costs, with highly targeted advertising attached, are virtually nil, the demand for content is soaring. The problem for Murdoch is that MySpace has not captured nearly as much of the burgeoning demand for "social news" as has Facebook. Never-the-less, advertising revenues are going to grow dramatically over the next decade. Targeted advertising will increasingly pay the freight for content. Total subscription fees to newspapers and magazines are likely to continue to decline.

Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, MySpace, PayPal and others continue to try to hit the big home run in regard to micro-payment systems. Many readers will ultimately decide to drop a few pennies or even a few dollars to have access to certain streams. Most steams will only be worthy of advertising support.

in reference to: Roy Greenslade: Murdoch and AP chief demand payment for content | Media | guardian.co.uk (view on Google Sidewiki)