How to save the newspapers
Mort Zuckerman has the answer. Bingo! No really, bingo.
[More posts daily at The Detroit News]
"The newspapers in England are supported almost exclusively by the profitability of running bingo games on their websites. It attracts an enormous audience. But here, you’re not allowed to do it. The gambling interests and Vegas and other places like that have managed to block any other gambling on the Internet. But London, that’s what they do. The Sun makes millions of dollars off of their bingo games." The possibility that he might one day do the same clearly filled him with joy. "Just think about that," he said. "Let every newspaper do that and they’ll all make enough money on their website to really help them stay viable. It’s a simple solution."I think it's brilliant. Churches have been running bingo games for years and turning a profit. Why not the newspapers? [via Jules Siegel]
[More posts daily at The Detroit News]
posted by Libby Spencer at 11:09 AM
4 Comments:
The numbers game in D.C. used to use the WaPo to publish the numbers, and winners found out by buying WaPo. I am pretty sure it was actually published as something other than "Winning Numbers for Illegal Betting Game", but knew about it for years.
I didn't know that. Hilarious.
I'm figuring, since they don't do real news much, the bingo would be the most valuable part of the paper. At least the gamers would get something out of it.
I've been thinking that the Rhapsody model should be a goal for newspapers online.
The music industry was getting its ass kicked by free illegal download sites, and it is only now slowly beginning to figure out how to survive. Rhapsody, for example, charges subscribers a flat fee each month, and allows members to download as much as they want. Music rights owners are paid a small chunk of money whenever somebody downloads one of their songs.
What if newspapers bound together with a similar site, which could offer many different papers online for a monthly fee? Papers would get a small percentage of the subscriptions based upon the amount of hits they get.
Of course, this would only work if the papers stop offering their stuff for free, but most have us have gotten used to not being able to steal stuff using Napster, this shouldn't be too much of an adjustment.
I'm not sure it would as well with newspapers because people would probably just go to blogs that were free. Information isn't the same as a creative product that only one person can deliver. Improving the quality of their product would probably help more. If they got back into analysis instead of mindless gossip, it might work.
But the bingo thing could really work to generate income. People love bingo and I don't think they're necessarily the same who got to casinos and Vegas. I really do love this idea.
Post a Comment
<< Home