News Corp Kremlinology: what do the Times paywall numbers mean?

Nov, 26 2010 17:10

Cory Doctorow recentra a questão. É falacioso provar que há gente disposta a pagar pelas notícias pela simplérrima razão de tal nunca constituiu uma dúvida. Logo, andam a chutar ao lado da baliza — ou a querer enganar os accionistas.

Fundamentally, the question News Corp is trying to answer is: “Will the Times make more money with a paywall?” And the figures we’ve just seen do nothing to answer this question. Rather, the Times seems to think that the new figures prove something else: “People are willing to pay for their news.” I don’t think that anyone has ever disputed that someone, somewhere, was willing to pay for the Times, though: surely the important question, from a business perspective, is, “Will adding a paywall increase your profits?”