The Numbers Add Up

Where oh where has the model gone? All of the words from Malcolm and Belo folks are just, ehm, words. Instead of fighting the inevitable future, why not pose a workable model that goes around the problem? Better yet, why not make the problem the solution?

So publishers feel like they're getting hijacked because folks like Google are allowing access to their copyrighted work. Yet, these same folks are dipping buckets into sinking ships, trying desperately to bail out the water. Where are our readers? Where is our revenue? Hell if we know, but let's blame freedom of distribution. Seems like the drowning is inevitable with that approach.

Advertisers are catching on now that sites that draw more viewers get, well, more views. More views of ads leads to more prospective consumers. You would think, then, that publishers might see this as the perfect chance to bail all the water out at once. Allow freedom of content and track audiences better. With more views, scale the advertising costs up penny by precious penny.

Freedom of distribution isn't the enemy here, as Malcolm alludes to -- naivety and the blame-game are. Unfortunately, the closed-minded nature of old school publishers will likely sink some excellent ships before the storm passes.