Of course, paywalls failed ... so far ... because the sites were able to have a sufficient income from ads.
However, if ads are no longer a source of sustainable income - and I am expecting this to happen within a few years ACROSS the board - most content-driven sites will introduce a paywall and block ad-blocker browsers. TODAY it's easy to say that you will just go elsewhere then - but, sorry to say that - tomorrow there'll be little left of this "free" elsewhere.
It has to be understood that somebody has to pay the bill. As mentioned the costs for running PZ as is is around the 30.000$ mark (without any salary) - I cannot and will not pay this out of my pockets.
As far as I can tell there are generally 3 models for online magazines and newspapers:
- ads
- paywall (which can have many flavours)
- sponsorship by a company
The web advertising market is about to fall apart although I reckon it'll remain a part of the mix. Sponsorships are usually impossible ("photozone - sponsored by Canon" - good joke ...).
As far as (relevant) photo gear review sites are concerned I am expecting that three sites will do it without paywalls on the long term:
- dpreview ... because they are an Amazon subsidiary and their sheer size is generating the sufficient numbers
- lensrentals ... because it contributes to their core business model to entertain readers
- dxomark ... as a side effect of their primary business
So these three are part of the sponsored category. If that's good enough - well, no worries then.
All other sites will either disappear (the majority) or introduce a paywall of some kind.
Whether PZ will go down ... well, this is up to you really. We can't do anything about it.
However, again, we are not planning to introduce a paywall this year.
FWIW, the next (ad-supported ...) review will be up on Monday.
However, if ads are no longer a source of sustainable income - and I am expecting this to happen within a few years ACROSS the board - most content-driven sites will introduce a paywall and block ad-blocker browsers. TODAY it's easy to say that you will just go elsewhere then - but, sorry to say that - tomorrow there'll be little left of this "free" elsewhere.
It has to be understood that somebody has to pay the bill. As mentioned the costs for running PZ as is is around the 30.000$ mark (without any salary) - I cannot and will not pay this out of my pockets.
As far as I can tell there are generally 3 models for online magazines and newspapers:
- ads
- paywall (which can have many flavours)
- sponsorship by a company
The web advertising market is about to fall apart although I reckon it'll remain a part of the mix. Sponsorships are usually impossible ("photozone - sponsored by Canon" - good joke ...).
As far as (relevant) photo gear review sites are concerned I am expecting that three sites will do it without paywalls on the long term:
- dpreview ... because they are an Amazon subsidiary and their sheer size is generating the sufficient numbers
- lensrentals ... because it contributes to their core business model to entertain readers
- dxomark ... as a side effect of their primary business
So these three are part of the sponsored category. If that's good enough - well, no worries then.
All other sites will either disappear (the majority) or introduce a paywall of some kind.
Whether PZ will go down ... well, this is up to you really. We can't do anything about it.
However, again, we are not planning to introduce a paywall this year.
FWIW, the next (ad-supported ...) review will be up on Monday.