Mark Cuban advises Fox and MySpace to sell content: Yes, you can
From the translator: so far, most of the materials that I translated and published on Habré , defended the position of free distribution of news content. For this position, explanations, theories and business models were given. Taking money for access to content now seems like utter nonsense. However, today I am publishing a translation of an article that has a slightly different angle of view.
Mark Cuban is the owner and co-founder of HDNet and the blog blog maverick .
Rupert, you did not ask my opinion on this, but when did it bother me? First of all, good news. You can sell content on the Internet. People pay for content every second every day both on the Internet and beyond. It is very easy to organize if everything is done correctly But before I tell you how to do this, add a few intermediate introductory ones.
1. Block aggregators that reference your content.
Too many of them? Nonsense! Traditionally, everyone thinks that any traffic is good. The more page views, the more money. What is wrong here? The fact that this traffic is small, and that you, in fact, have no benefit from it. At best, all traffic sent to you by most sites is a drop in the ocean. Look at your boyfriend Michael Wolf (Michael Wolff) and his website Newser.com . According to Quantcast, it has 24,000 unique visitors per day. If 1% of them go to any of the Fox sites, for example, the NY Post, and each browse 5 pages, you’ll get a total of 1,200 views. If you could sell all the ads on these pages at a price of $ 15 per thousand impressions, in fact you can’t, you’ll earn 18 bucks. This is about 6500 bucks a year. Best case scenario.
')
It is more likely that in the current situation with news on the Internet, you will not be able to convert even 90% of the traffic sent to you by this site. Hell, in any case, you cannot sell a large amount of advertising to these visitors, so the value of the traffic from Newser.com tends to be zero for you.
So why will you help the site, which is your direct competitor for a penny? It is not worth it. Know what to do? When someone sends you a visitor, let him go to a page that says that you don’t consider Newser.com a trustworthy source: “Newser.com believes that it can serve as an intermediary between you and us. We do not think so. Therefore, we block access from this site. If you want to receive the latest news without delay, please come directly to the NY Post website (or whatever you like). ” Of course, Newser.com will quickly stop sending you visitors. But he will lose from this, not you. There will be news that you will cover better than anyone else. And Michael will have to look for other sources.
The main question, of course, is whether other big players will follow your example? Look, if the New York Times and the Washington Post do this, if CNN, the Tribune and MSNBC newspapers join? I'll tell you what will happen. Then all aggregators that mediate on the content in which you have invested a lot of money will use the content of the Associated Press, Reuters, and individual bloggers.
Now all users of the network will blow up and say that I’ve lost my mind. These news sites will never do like you. This is not on the Internet. That is how they react to all business issues on the network. Large newsmen do not touch the aggregators, who do not host their content completely. Starting with the Drudge Report and down the list. But you will be an idiot if you do the same. Let search engines send you traffic. Block the rest. A blow to your wallet will be minimal. The impact on competitors is significant.
2. With the exception of Wall Street Journal, never sell content piece by piece. This works only with the content that hits the purse of companies and citizens in real time. The journal can be sold by subscription, because if a businessman or a trader does not have the necessary information immediately at the time of publication, they may have serious financial problems. Journal moves the markets. You can take money for it. The sixth page does not move. Fox Sports is not moving. Here people will not pay for each article. They will not pay for their interest or newspaper, TV, sports website by day, week or month, until it affects their wallet. Even if there are such, they are not enough to cover your expenses on the content of these sites.
So what do you do to sell your online content? First, understand that consumers on the Internet pay well only when the following conditions are met:
1. Pay easily.
2. Anyone can easily determine the value of your content for themselves, while you obviously ask for less.
2a Remember that the fact that you see some value in the content does not mean that the consumer will see it too. Newspaper sites are a good example. The consumer, perhaps, believes that the reporters are better than the Associated Press. He may believe that your site reports news that you cannot find on MSNBC.com. But unfortunately for you, since everything is free, none of them will say: “Wow, you! I used to pay $ 2.99 a week for all this, but now Fox offers only $ 2 a month for the same. ” This will not happen. Rather, "I love the New York Post." I love the sixth page. But I will not pay for what I have received so far for free. ”
Like this.
Give you an example. Offer a “Newsletter Subscription” which will include:
but. Access to all News Corporation news sites around the world except the Wall Street Journal. From New York Post to English Sandy Times, San, etc.
b. Two books to choose from our collection of Harpers Collins. Yes Yes. Choose any two from our bestseller list, or from a special list that we made for newsletters like you. Choose which format suits you best: binding, paper cover, e-book.
with. Subscribe to our weekly standart news magazine. Choose a delivery method: by e-mail or in printed form, or both!
d. 99 bucks to the account in our store Fox Store, which we made specifically for our newsmen. Taste from the latest DVD releases to the classics!
Let's sum up. In addition to subscribing to all Fox sites for $ 79 a year, you get: two books from the Harper Collins collection for up to $ 79; subscription for Weekly Standart priced at up to $ 64; $ 99 credit to an account in the online store. The total cost is $ 321.
Since the newsmen are very expensive for us, our offer is valid for a limited period of time. This amazing subscription will be yours at a uniquely low price of only ... $ 9.95 per month with a minimum subscription period of 15 months!
You can also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal for $ 5 a month, or home delivery for $ 9.95 a month.
I gave this example to make it easier to understand the meaning. Of course, there is nothing new here; publishers of statistical reference books and book clubs have long been doing so. Give the subscriber a serious bonus for priming. The cost of everything listed is somewhere around $ 100. If you try, you can make a set cheaper. The most important thing in this handout is that you get subscribers cheaply and, possibly, make them as much in the first year as much as a subscription to the New York Post and the Sunday Times combined.
Of course, you can make a subscription to fans of movies and TV, and sell it to visitors to Rotten Tomatoes. And you can also make a subscription to sports fans and sell it to visitors of FoxSports.com and other sports sites.
As soon as he got a subscriber, then this is a problem for Fox to make him happy. In fact, not so difficult. Here you can use your digital assets with minimal delivery costs. Movie lovers are given the opportunity to download something to choose from once a quarter. You know what movies are not in demand. So why not get them to work to increase the value of your subscription?
Sports fans offer the same thing, just give me the choice of sports films. Free fantasy sports in the same piggy bank. Only allow subscribers to chat. Sponsoring with athletes across the country is also for subscribers only. I’m sure the News Corporation employees are much more creative than me.
I don’t know how everything inside you works there, but I’m sure I’ll be right if I assume that any of your employees will say: “Yes, everything sounds great, but how do you think, are there great chances for harmonious work of all departments? Everyone has their own budget. They will not help sell subscriptions online. ” This is where the dog is buried.
The problem of Rupert and the company is not whether they can or cannot take money for the content and make money from it. Not in this complexity. The difficulty is that every big company is extremely difficult to adjust to one goal. I am sure that they will be able to sell their content if they correctly form subscription packages. I'm not sure if they can reorganize themselves for this.
And since I'm considering Fox / News Corp, let's look at their MySpace division. That's what I think. You have serious (albeit weakening) positions in music. Look carefully at the economics of music and see how you can use it to your advantage. Today, it seems, no one makes money on music. In any case, the "lights" say that no one should. That everything should be distributed for free, and money to do at concerts. In general, this is not my money, but I think that MySpace should spend money on music. Take for example Walmart. They buy exclusive CDs of musicians that are suitable for their target group of buyers. It seems that they have signed a contract with Foreigner, who are going to release their first CD in more than a decade. They guaranteed them a minimum amount without the possibility of a refund (if the conditions are the same as I read in other cases). You can buy such a CD only at Walmart.
So why would MySpace not do the same with those musicians who are suitable for their sample? I don’t know how much a musician will make from Billboard’s lists for the year from selling his music, but everyone has a price. If I were you, I would recognize her and see if it is profitable to buy their one-time product and sell it exclusively through MySpace.
Then you can offer a subscription to their music for a ridiculous price. For example, $ 1.49 per year for all the music of the group, released for the year. Since you paid a certain amount, your task is to sell a sufficient number of subscriptions to cover the costs and earn something more.
Now the MySpace feature will be reduced to buying and selling music to its users. Users are happy that they receive content for pennies, the musicians receive a source of income, which they are also paid in advance. I do not know whether it will work or not, but it is definitely worth considering this option!
Mark Cuban is the owner and co-founder of HDNet and the blog blog maverick .
Rupert, you did not ask my opinion on this, but when did it bother me? First of all, good news. You can sell content on the Internet. People pay for content every second every day both on the Internet and beyond. It is very easy to organize if everything is done correctly But before I tell you how to do this, add a few intermediate introductory ones.
1. Block aggregators that reference your content.
Too many of them? Nonsense! Traditionally, everyone thinks that any traffic is good. The more page views, the more money. What is wrong here? The fact that this traffic is small, and that you, in fact, have no benefit from it. At best, all traffic sent to you by most sites is a drop in the ocean. Look at your boyfriend Michael Wolf (Michael Wolff) and his website Newser.com . According to Quantcast, it has 24,000 unique visitors per day. If 1% of them go to any of the Fox sites, for example, the NY Post, and each browse 5 pages, you’ll get a total of 1,200 views. If you could sell all the ads on these pages at a price of $ 15 per thousand impressions, in fact you can’t, you’ll earn 18 bucks. This is about 6500 bucks a year. Best case scenario.
')
It is more likely that in the current situation with news on the Internet, you will not be able to convert even 90% of the traffic sent to you by this site. Hell, in any case, you cannot sell a large amount of advertising to these visitors, so the value of the traffic from Newser.com tends to be zero for you.
So why will you help the site, which is your direct competitor for a penny? It is not worth it. Know what to do? When someone sends you a visitor, let him go to a page that says that you don’t consider Newser.com a trustworthy source: “Newser.com believes that it can serve as an intermediary between you and us. We do not think so. Therefore, we block access from this site. If you want to receive the latest news without delay, please come directly to the NY Post website (or whatever you like). ” Of course, Newser.com will quickly stop sending you visitors. But he will lose from this, not you. There will be news that you will cover better than anyone else. And Michael will have to look for other sources.
The main question, of course, is whether other big players will follow your example? Look, if the New York Times and the Washington Post do this, if CNN, the Tribune and MSNBC newspapers join? I'll tell you what will happen. Then all aggregators that mediate on the content in which you have invested a lot of money will use the content of the Associated Press, Reuters, and individual bloggers.
Now all users of the network will blow up and say that I’ve lost my mind. These news sites will never do like you. This is not on the Internet. That is how they react to all business issues on the network. Large newsmen do not touch the aggregators, who do not host their content completely. Starting with the Drudge Report and down the list. But you will be an idiot if you do the same. Let search engines send you traffic. Block the rest. A blow to your wallet will be minimal. The impact on competitors is significant.
2. With the exception of Wall Street Journal, never sell content piece by piece. This works only with the content that hits the purse of companies and citizens in real time. The journal can be sold by subscription, because if a businessman or a trader does not have the necessary information immediately at the time of publication, they may have serious financial problems. Journal moves the markets. You can take money for it. The sixth page does not move. Fox Sports is not moving. Here people will not pay for each article. They will not pay for their interest or newspaper, TV, sports website by day, week or month, until it affects their wallet. Even if there are such, they are not enough to cover your expenses on the content of these sites.
So what do you do to sell your online content? First, understand that consumers on the Internet pay well only when the following conditions are met:
1. Pay easily.
2. Anyone can easily determine the value of your content for themselves, while you obviously ask for less.
2a Remember that the fact that you see some value in the content does not mean that the consumer will see it too. Newspaper sites are a good example. The consumer, perhaps, believes that the reporters are better than the Associated Press. He may believe that your site reports news that you cannot find on MSNBC.com. But unfortunately for you, since everything is free, none of them will say: “Wow, you! I used to pay $ 2.99 a week for all this, but now Fox offers only $ 2 a month for the same. ” This will not happen. Rather, "I love the New York Post." I love the sixth page. But I will not pay for what I have received so far for free. ”
Like this.
Give you an example. Offer a “Newsletter Subscription” which will include:
but. Access to all News Corporation news sites around the world except the Wall Street Journal. From New York Post to English Sandy Times, San, etc.
b. Two books to choose from our collection of Harpers Collins. Yes Yes. Choose any two from our bestseller list, or from a special list that we made for newsletters like you. Choose which format suits you best: binding, paper cover, e-book.
with. Subscribe to our weekly standart news magazine. Choose a delivery method: by e-mail or in printed form, or both!
d. 99 bucks to the account in our store Fox Store, which we made specifically for our newsmen. Taste from the latest DVD releases to the classics!
Let's sum up. In addition to subscribing to all Fox sites for $ 79 a year, you get: two books from the Harper Collins collection for up to $ 79; subscription for Weekly Standart priced at up to $ 64; $ 99 credit to an account in the online store. The total cost is $ 321.
Since the newsmen are very expensive for us, our offer is valid for a limited period of time. This amazing subscription will be yours at a uniquely low price of only ... $ 9.95 per month with a minimum subscription period of 15 months!
You can also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal for $ 5 a month, or home delivery for $ 9.95 a month.
I gave this example to make it easier to understand the meaning. Of course, there is nothing new here; publishers of statistical reference books and book clubs have long been doing so. Give the subscriber a serious bonus for priming. The cost of everything listed is somewhere around $ 100. If you try, you can make a set cheaper. The most important thing in this handout is that you get subscribers cheaply and, possibly, make them as much in the first year as much as a subscription to the New York Post and the Sunday Times combined.
Of course, you can make a subscription to fans of movies and TV, and sell it to visitors to Rotten Tomatoes. And you can also make a subscription to sports fans and sell it to visitors of FoxSports.com and other sports sites.
As soon as he got a subscriber, then this is a problem for Fox to make him happy. In fact, not so difficult. Here you can use your digital assets with minimal delivery costs. Movie lovers are given the opportunity to download something to choose from once a quarter. You know what movies are not in demand. So why not get them to work to increase the value of your subscription?
Sports fans offer the same thing, just give me the choice of sports films. Free fantasy sports in the same piggy bank. Only allow subscribers to chat. Sponsoring with athletes across the country is also for subscribers only. I’m sure the News Corporation employees are much more creative than me.
I don’t know how everything inside you works there, but I’m sure I’ll be right if I assume that any of your employees will say: “Yes, everything sounds great, but how do you think, are there great chances for harmonious work of all departments? Everyone has their own budget. They will not help sell subscriptions online. ” This is where the dog is buried.
The problem of Rupert and the company is not whether they can or cannot take money for the content and make money from it. Not in this complexity. The difficulty is that every big company is extremely difficult to adjust to one goal. I am sure that they will be able to sell their content if they correctly form subscription packages. I'm not sure if they can reorganize themselves for this.
And since I'm considering Fox / News Corp, let's look at their MySpace division. That's what I think. You have serious (albeit weakening) positions in music. Look carefully at the economics of music and see how you can use it to your advantage. Today, it seems, no one makes money on music. In any case, the "lights" say that no one should. That everything should be distributed for free, and money to do at concerts. In general, this is not my money, but I think that MySpace should spend money on music. Take for example Walmart. They buy exclusive CDs of musicians that are suitable for their target group of buyers. It seems that they have signed a contract with Foreigner, who are going to release their first CD in more than a decade. They guaranteed them a minimum amount without the possibility of a refund (if the conditions are the same as I read in other cases). You can buy such a CD only at Walmart.
So why would MySpace not do the same with those musicians who are suitable for their sample? I don’t know how much a musician will make from Billboard’s lists for the year from selling his music, but everyone has a price. If I were you, I would recognize her and see if it is profitable to buy their one-time product and sell it exclusively through MySpace.
Then you can offer a subscription to their music for a ridiculous price. For example, $ 1.49 per year for all the music of the group, released for the year. Since you paid a certain amount, your task is to sell a sufficient number of subscriptions to cover the costs and earn something more.
Now the MySpace feature will be reduced to buying and selling music to its users. Users are happy that they receive content for pennies, the musicians receive a source of income, which they are also paid in advance. I do not know whether it will work or not, but it is definitely worth considering this option!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/287606/
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