Media Business published this article quoting me as saying, "WSJ.com's likely elimination of paid subscriptions 'a completely horrible strategy.'" Yes, I did say it, and I stand by it.
I'm not the only one poking holes in this strategy, however. Joseph Weisenthal of PaidContent.org wrote a great piece on how Dow Jones would need to increase traffic 12x in order to offset subscription revenues. Joseph is covering the analysis of Bear Sterns analyst Spencer Wang, and I'm in Spencer's court.
The day that AOL announced its strategy to open its content (August '06), I began discussing with my team plans to begin gating our content in such a way that it would not diminish but enhance our advertising revenues. AOL has opened up its content at the top of an advertising boom and gated at the bottom of the bust. These moves were made too late in the cycle, and they left the company in poor position as the advertising climate shifted. I believe that it's important to view the long-term benefits in addition to the short-term gains.
What do you think? Should publishers focus on a subscription model, ad-supported model, or a hybrid?