While sitting at a truck stop on a 10-hour break a couple of weeks ago, I read an email received that included a link to an essay written by the CEO of The New York Times Company, the parent company of the famed newspaper. The piece was a well-written explanation of the challenges he faces as the head of a world-famous media outlet that, like every other one, has struggled with rapidly falling revenues due to decreased revenues brought about by declining readership.
Of course, nothing is either simple or singular in any change process; no one factor can "blamed" or shown as the start of it all. That is true in this case, too. Physical newspaper subscriptions have declined as the population ages and younger readers get their "news" more from mobile electronic devices than not. That is where this story goes.
Since the advent of mobile cell phones and tablets, their ability to process data and connect with data sources has expanded wildly over the years. Early on, there was the expectation by the end user that they could connect to everything for free, as long as they paid their provider monthly to do so. This created an enormous supply of eyes on the receiving end and companies were fast to identify the potential market. As Google, for example, ceased being a small startup company of math and programming geniuses and became a large international powerhouse with expensive needs to fill as they grew, their executives and Board of Directors began to focus on "monetizing" - there is a word that did not exist before the Electronic Age we are in - really meaning charging for this new product they created.
Google (and all the others) started selling ads to companies looking to sell their products or services based on their internal proprietary algorithms that somehow were tied directly to the de-identified but accurate mobile device user. Of course, as the ad buyers soon realized, they could get more eyes on their product for less money than by advertising in a paper news media or radio or television, so guess what they did?
The advertising revenue stream shifted from print (and other media) to electronic media.
Over time, this stream has shrunk and CEO's of organizations have had to adapt. Many did not have the resources to do so and failed. Large, established companies like The New York Times did not fail but have been working on survival solutions. End users noticed an increase in ads on the web pages they viewed, other apps they downloaded, and pretty much everywhere else. This caused some angst for them because they never had to deal with them before and now these ads are all over the place. These ads were on the sides, at the bottom, at the top, and they even popped up almost completely covering the page being viewed. Many users downloaded the ad-blocking apps that were developed at the same time.
This led to a conflict in the industry: If ads were blocked, nobody saw them and the ad company would not pay as much (or at all) to display their products. The revenue stream was reduced again and the site owner would have to figure out a solution to stay in business.
All because we expect what we've always had as end users...access to freedom for a monthly fee.
After having given this a lot of thought, I have come to the decision to pay for things I used to get for free. I bought a subscription to the digital New York Times...on sale, of course; I am not a dummy! I will not use apps that block ads, as irritated as I know I will get at times. Since there is often a link between a click and how much is charged and/or earned, I will even click on products that interest me from time to time, though I know I will hardly ever buy anything based on that; it's just not how I operate.
The times have changed. How we get information has also changed and the producers and deliverers of that information have changed, as has the expense of doing so. I want to help companies survive this difficult transition, or at least not help kill them, even if I'm just one of millions and I know very few others will choose my course of action. What used to be free when it was starting out now has cost associations. The way to get it must change, too.
