For a long time, the overwhelming trend on the Internet among popular sites has been towards offering content and other services (like search, video sharing and social networking) for free and generating revenue through advertising. However, in light of the economic downturn, eMarketer reports that at least one prominent Silicon Valley entrepreneur predicts that the trend will reverse and sites will start charging for content.
In connection with that prediction, eMarketer cites a fascinating September 2008 study which found that many Internet users would be willing to pay $2/month to access some of the most popular applications now available for free on the Internet, including, Google (52%), Yahoo (22%), YouTube (19%), Wikipedia (18%), and Facebook (17%). Here's a link to the eMarketer chart with the complete results.
Subscription-based law firm websites anyone?
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