Why Rupert Murdoch is Throwing Away a Fantastic Opportunity
As you have probably heard by now, Rupert Murdoch is looking to charge search engines for access to News Corp’s content online. It’s been in the news that News Corp and Bing (Microsoft’s search engine) are looking to ink an exclusive deal. Most notability, News Corp’s content will be de-listed from Google.
I wonder if this trend will continue with other news organizations? If it does, it seems to me to be a “record industry moment” that could be the final nail in the coffin for many once highly esteemed publications. Instead of trying to build a dam against the tides of change. News Corp should go with it. Simply put, they should try to better monetize the extra traffic that Google brings. In the long run, this would be much better for the organization as a whole. By assuming that de-listing from Google is the answer. They are forgetting about 1) Syndicated content and articles that other newspapers use, 2) Twitter, and 3) Blogs. You see their content will get on Google for free someway or somehow.
News Corp should attempt to use the attention their breaking news generates better. I’m sure that if they focused on improving conversion rates and click through rates without damaging the reader experience they could make some dramatic improvements. They may have to make some editorial policy changes to their websites in order to be more conducive to monetizing traffic. They may have to expand their horizon past CPC and CPM advertising.
Contrast Rupert Murdoch’s view with that of Chris Ahearn from Reuters. Chris offers a refreshing perspective on how the News industry can deal with the evolving way information is shared.
In a recent blog post Seth Godin hits the whole issue on the head. Rupert Murdoch does have it backwards. News Corp are throwing the gold back in the river.
As a new entrepreneur, it could be quite valuable to observe developments on this front. Who knows, it could present opportunities for you. Ultimately Rupert Murdoch are you have the same choice to make. Is giving something for free worth it?
