One of the big ideas floating around the web today came via Information Architects’ Oliver Reichenstein. In it, he suggests a new model for selling the news online: different classes of customers, based on how airlines work.
I think this is a really lovely idea. There are some clear parallels: it, in the end, is the same product no matter who you are (same news, same destination on a plane) and the variations come in how you get there. In his article Oliver even mocks up how a business class New York Times could look: it’s gloriously ad-free with larger columns for text and big images. This, more than anything, spoke to me because it’s also how Netflix works: you pay $8/month, you get no ads. Still get the content, though.
Paywalls and the like just won’t work, not when there are easy ways around them. But something like this could work. I wonder who will be the first to try it?
Posted in Consumer Commentary