 RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY | reply to james
Re: Newspaper Biz model and Net Neutrality said by james:said by tschmidt:Not having to to use dead trees to deliver information dramatically reduces cost but unfortunately Internet ad rates are very low compared to print. Uh, how about not having to own and run printing presses, how about not having to pay people to maintain those, how about not having to pay people to deliver the papers? What about the fact that an online newspaper has a worldwide audience, and thus more potential audience. The cost to distribute things online is a fraction of a percent of the real world alternative, especially when you're talking about worldwide distribution. There is also the issue that the cost of the newspaper is in two parts - Fixed and Variable. The Fixed cost is everything to do with producing and distributing the paper (the items you mention). The Variable Cost, is that of creating a copy. Thus if you print 1,000,000 copies, the cost is F + 1,000,000 V. This figure includes those copies that you print/distribute but do not actually sell.
With online versions, the Fixed Cost is the cost of making up the HTML, uploading it, and running the Servers and connections. The Variable Cost is that involved with serving a copy (there is no cost for unserved copies).
Since the Online Fixed Cost is much less than the Paper Version's Fixed Cost and the Online Variable Cost is MUCH less than that of printing a copy (with only the needed copy count being for the Online Version with no unneeded copies being created and the cost per copy being minor) the Online Option is much cheaper. The problem is that unless you charge something for online access, the full burden must be carried by the Ads (unlike with the Paper/Online option where the Paper Copy cost subsidizes the Free Online access and the Archive of Old Articles pays for itself). |
