Customers Will Pay for Online Content

[Commentary] Major media companies have finally learned something about whether consumers will pay for content on the Internet, and it's this: The answer won't be found through endless debate.

At long last -- due in part to economic stress -- significant strides are being made to take "pay models" out of the conference room and to the public. Virtually all trend lines in recent communications history have moved, with success, from free distribution to some form of pay model. The viewing and listening public has demonstrated repeatedly its willingness to spend for content, so long as there is some degree of perceived value. For newspaper companies to jump into this digital pay arena, the main hurdle is convincing readers to spend money for material that to date has been so readily dumped online for free. But if free TV could become pay TV, and if free radio could become pay radio, then it would seem to be easier for pay printed newspapers to become pay online newspapers.

Many additional challenges face publishers in this belated effort -- among them the proliferation of free sites that summarize, categorize and even plagiarize material. And there is legitimate concern about how much advertisers will spend online versus in print. But the central question on which industry observers seem to dwell -- will consumers pay? -- has already been answered many times in media history. Yes.