[144844] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Google Plans Tools to Help News Media Charge for Content
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (R.A. Hettinga)
Thu Sep 10 09:52:57 2009
From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com>
To: Gold Silver Crypto <gold-silver-crypto@rayservers.com>,
cypherpunks@al-qaeda.net,
Cryptography <cryptography@metzdowd.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:52:25 -0400
Stands to reason. Google's in the advertisement microbilling business =20=
already.
Turn it upside down and you get book-entry micropayments.
Cheers,
RAH
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<http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/google-plans-tools-to-help-news-=
media-charge-for-content/?pagemode=3Dprint=20
>
- Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
SEPTEMBER 9, 2009, 8:51 PM
Google Plans Tools to Help News Media Charge for Content
By MIGUEL HELFT
Update | 11:19 p.m. Added link to Nieman Journalism Lab, which first =20
publicized the Google filing.
Google is planning to roll out a system of micropayments within the =20
next year and hopes that newspapers will use it as they look for new =20
ways to charge users for their content.
The revelation was made in a document that Google sent to the =20
Newspaper Association of America in response to a request for paid-=20
content proposals that the association sent to several technology =20
companies.
The Google document, which was first publicized by the Nieman =20
Journalism Lab, indicates that the micropayment system will be an =20
extension of Google Checkout, a payment system that Google rolled out =20=
in 2006 and positioned as a competitor to eBay=92s PayPal service, the =20=
leading system for online payments.
=93While currently in the early planning stages, micropayments will be a =
=20
payment vehicle available to both Google and non-Google properties =20
within the next year,=94 Google wrote. =93The idea is to allow viable =20=
payments of a penny to several dollars by aggregating purchases across =20=
merchants and over time.=94
Ten other companies responded to the association=92s request, including =20=
Microsoft, I.B.M. and Oracle. But Google=92s plans are particularly =20
interesting because of the delicate relationship between the newspaper =20=
industry and the company.
In the document, Google said that newspapers could also use Checkout =20
to charge for subscriptions, but it described the system for managing =20=
the subscriptions as =93fairly rudimentary.=94
Newspapers have been grappling with an industrywide financial crisis =20
that has devastated many dailies. The industry is trying to find new =20
ways to earn revenue, and several publishers are evaluating ways to =20
charge for content.
Randy Bennett, senior vice president of business development for the =20
industry association, said the request for proposals was made =20
following a meeting of its members in May. He said it is now up to =20
individual newspapers to decide whether to pursue relationships with =20
any of the companies that submitted proposals.
Google, which has long relied on advertising for the overwhelming =20
majority of its revenue, said that it believed that paid content could =20=
be a good complement to advertising.
=93While we believe that advertising will likely remain the main source =20=
of revenue for most news content, a paid model can serve as an =20
important source of additional revenue. In addition, a successful paid =20=
content model can enhance advertising opportunities, rather than =20
replace them,=94 the company wrote.
The Google proposal, if it goes forward, could put the company in =20
competition with Journalism Online, a venture backed by Steven Brill =20
and L. Gordon Crovitz, which has recently said that it had tentatively =20=
signed more than 500 newspapers for its services. Those services =20
include =93hybrid models for paid content.=94 Journalism Online is one =
of =20
the companies that presented a proposal to the association.
In a statement, Google said:
The Newspaper Association of America asked Google to submit some ideas =20=
for how its members could use technology to generate more revenue from =20=
their digital content, and we shared some of those ideas in this =20
proposal. It=92s consistent with Google=92s effort to help publishers =20=
reach bigger audiences, better engage their readers and make more =20
money. We have always said that publishers have full control over =20
their content. If they decide to charge for it, we=92ll work with them =20=
to ensure that their content can be easily discovered if they want it =20=
to be. As for Checkout, we don=92t have any specific new services to =20
announce but we=92re always looking for ways to make payments online =20
more efficient and user-friendly.
Google has been experimenting with new ways to highlight news content =20=
and new ways to display it.
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