Days Of Free Web Content May Be Numbered, Says eMarketer

Across the board, from financial data to news to music, the availability of free content is beginning to diminish, says the study. eMarketer claims that this is partly a result of weaker companies being filtered from the market, whilst the remaining ones are beginning to adapt to with ‘more sustainable business models’.

In the US, the number of people or organisations paying for online content is expected to almost triple between 2002 and 2006, rising from 75.4 million to 222.1 million, according to data from IDC. The number of US consumers paying for web content will rise from 47.1 million this year to 128.0 million in 2006, says the forecast.

Estimates project that individual consumers will spend $3.8 billion worldwide for online content in 2002 and organisations will spend $44 billion. These figures match similar ratios seen in B2C vs B2B e-commerce revenues and add up to nearly $50 billion by the end of this year, says eMarketer.

The move toward paid-content does not necessarily signal the end of free information on the web, according to eMarketer, nor will it lead to the end of the banner and pop-up ads that support content sites. “It is a sign of the emergence of more realistic and robust business models that combine advertising, subscriptions and pay-per-view fees,” says the report.

“The question of whether consumers are more willing to pay for online content now than in the past has become largely irrelevant,” says Ben Macklin, senior analyst at eMarketer. “Let’s face it; people would rather not pay. The more appropriate question is whether businesses are any longer willing to offer online content and services for free. And the answer increasingly seems to be no. That reality will transform the internet.”

The subject of the longevity of free online content was discussed in Insight Analysis: Can There Really Be A Free Lunch At The ‘Cyber-Buffet’? in September.