Gratis Content: Two Current Examples

Not a day goes by, I think, when I’m not struck by at least one example of how the Internet has uprooted, profoundly transformed and (in some cases) completely eradicated previously healthy industries. Specifically, consider the impact of the digitization of previously ‘physical’ content:

• Magazines and newspapers => Web pages
• Books => eBooks
• TV shows and movies => downloaded and streamed video
• Albums and tapes => audio tracks
• etc…

Couple that binary transformation with three additional factors:

• Individuals’ unwillingness to respect copyright, for content that can be easily relocated and shared
• Peer-to-peer services which simplify the sharing process, and
• Increasingly pervasive broadband, which speeds the sharing

and you have ‘perfect storm’ conditions for content rights holders’ increasing inability to generate sufficient revenue for the rent and purchase of that material, thereby forcing them to pursue alternative means of generating income in order to survive.

I’ve discussed numerous examples of this transformation in past blog posts and print articles. Yesterday brought two more eye-opening case studies to my inbox:

• South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, in partnership with Comedy Central, are in the process of putting every episode of the show (complete with inline ads that you can’t skip past) online for free viewing.
• No Starch Press is offering free BitTorrent-delivered digital downloads of two (quite good) books, the Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, in the hopes that website visitors will also purchase other print and eBooks published by the company.

These two situations exemplify a trend that Wired’s editor-in-chief Chris Anderson (likely known to some of you for his Long Tail theories) discusses in his upcoming-book-plug March issue cover story Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business (Slashdot discussion), which I commend to your attention. The concepts Anderson discusses are, ironically, old news to EDN. In case you haven’t already noticed ;-), those of you who receive a print subscription to the magazine don’t pay for it. Website visitors similarly get complete access to both the current magazine issue and past-issue archives, along with web-exclusive content.

I admit to being highly amused whenever, for example, someone calls or emails me complaining that they have to click through multiple pages’ worth of HTML in order to read an entire longer-than-normal blog post. I’m similarly entertained (along with, I admit, being a bit baffled) when someone grumbles that my blog’s RSS feed only provides the first few dozen words’ worth of each of my posts, thereby compelling a visit to the EDN website in order to access the entire writeup.

Something’s got to cover my salary, folks…I’m not willing to churn out all this good stuff on a monetary compensation-free basis! At least for the moment, the online portion of my salary is paid by your clicks, translating to ad impressions, which is the same compensation ‘fuel’ I benefit from in print. We’re always open to ideas on additional (and alternative) revenue streams, specifically profitable ones, so if you have any compelling brainstorms, I’m all ears.