The days of reading online content for free while blissfully skimming over those ubiquitous display ads may be drawing to a close, as several major publishers are considering charging for online content in the coming year, The New York Times reports.
The New York Times and Hulu are among a group of popular online publishers that might take the plunge into paid content in 2010. Simultaneously, a consortium of magazine publishers is trying to create an iTunes-like store by which to distribute content online, according to the Times.
The paid versus free debate is as old as online advertising itself, but the economic recession has given the discussion new legs. As print ad revenue dries up and display costs plummet, publishers are becoming desperate.
So what will work? Publishers like The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times already have pay walls, and while many others have threatened to go down the same road, very few have. Overall, experts predict that consumers will be far more willing to pay for entertainment -- TV episodes on Hulu, for example -- rather than pay for news.
