The document discusses the challenges of monetizing content in a digital era where everything seems free and easily copied, leading to an overwhelming noise of information. It proposes a shift towards new business models, emphasizing the value of quality, timely, and curated content while suggesting micropayments as a potential solution to reduce consumer transaction costs. Ultimately, the document highlights the importance of personalization and data delivery mechanisms to enhance user experience and drive revenue.

1. How to monetise in the world of free Discussion paper

2. Social and media used to be separate Personal Impersonal Free Pay Once upon a time, not long ago, people consumed media that was broadcast to them and they would pay for it. Social interactions were face to face and completely separate

3. People talked, media broadcast People talked to people. It was completely personal (not to mention free). Media broadcast, and that was completely impersonal. And paid for. How else would they make their money? Not paid for Paid for Personal Impersonal

4. Digital has changed things – everything is free Personal Impersonal SMS eMail Free Free Free Free Digital has changed that model. People have won; everything is completely free. There’s an online dialogue (the vision of the Cluetrain Manifesto is becoming reality). Everyone is talking. Never mind it is completely noisy

5. But it is also noisy With all these sources of these content it is getting noisy. The poor people are getting overwhelmed. A headache for them?

6. And copyable Anything that can be digitised can and will be copied It’s definitely a headache for the content providers. Anything that can be copied will be copied. In the world of the free, nothing can be monetised for long

7. iTunes and Kindle are plugging a hole http://www.flickr.com/photos/amymctigue/4138695618 DRM can try and plug the hole, but it is a sticking plaster. That content will eventually wiggle its way free. FREE

8. Criminalise your customers? So what are you going to do, criminalise your customers for making free your content? Whoever heard of that? Legal proceedings against your customers for enjoying your content and sharing with their friends? That’s what the record companies are doing. Time for new business models of course. In the land of the Free, where there is no physical product to be bought, what are you to do?

9. Challenge Too much noise Random Raw Repetitive Where’s the revenue? All free All freely copied So there’s a challenge. For the people there’s too much content. More maybe marvelous, choice maybe nirvana but the cold reality is it is all a bit much. A headache. There’s just too much noise. It’s random, raw, repetitive. And as we’ve seen, for the content provider, in the land of the Free, where’s the revenue?

10. One solution Subscription model with all content behind pay-wall Pay wall I’m paying for stuff I’m not interested in or can get for free elsewhere Mr. Murdoch has a solution! Pay wall. But there’s a lot in his jolly newspapers that you can get for free elsewhere? This isn’t a physical newspaper people are buying, it is content. Content that has recency, relevance and price liquidity?

11. Our Hypothesis I will pay (a little, maybe more) Originality Timeliness Authority Novelty Exclusivity Uniqueness Quality … Relevant to me I won’t pay (maybe pay less) Old Irrelevant Ubiquitous So here’s an idea. People won’t pay for most content (why should they? It’s free somewhere else isn’t it?) But they will pay for some content.

12. A compelling reason to pay World of free I will pay Filtered Curated Mine Status Recognition Content that is relevant and timely, that provides an coherent and themed experiences rather than the random cacophony of the web today

13. Greatest value is in personal content that has authority Originality Timeliness Authority Novelty Exclusivity Uniqueness Quality “ Once my friends know, I’ll pay nothing” “ I will pay for quality thought, analysis and information curation” £££ ££ £ 0 Personal Impersonal Chatter Authority £ £ Auto aggregation, filtering, clustering, analysis Personalisation, myNews, self configured, chosen, arranged Professionals Dedicated amateurs Commenter Relevant to me Micropayments So here’s the model. Let’s start with people. Obviously they are not going to pay for the personal chatter. But the impersonal stuff, maybe they’ll pay for someone to cut through the noise for them. They will pay for quality thought, analysis and information curation. They’ll pay for what the dude on the right says and does for them. In the middle, they may pay (small amounts) for someone to help filter the noise, the ability for them to create their own personalised digital landscape on the channel of their choice. (Imagine watching Julia and Julia, you’re on a French mission; cook books, restaurants, travel, places in the film… France is relevant to you now). That is what people will pay for, the Platform…

14. Start with content Professionally created Dedicated amateurs Customers Feeds Other sources The raw data Let’s start with the content. It’s noisy out there. There’s the professionally created content, but there is also the quality stuff that’s being turned out by dedicated amateurs - pro-ams in their bedrooms. Customers are also talking, all that social stuff, reviews, feedback, but how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? Who is a good reviewer whose review you should trust and whose is just bluster you can ignore? Any content spawns other content. Cue feeds. And needing a catch all bucket for anything we’ve forgotten, we’ll add ‘other sources’ as well.

15. Add value to the content Professionally created Dedicated amateurs Customers Feeds Other sources Enrichment That’s the content sorted, now we need to add value to it. It’s not just about aggregation, indexing filtering and all those technical solutions to the problem. Curation is the key to monetising content. Taking all the content, all those sources and turning it into something that is meaningful to me. Professionally curated Transformation Aggregation Filtering Indexing Tagging

16. Monetising the content Professionally created Dedicated amateurs Customers Feeds Other sources Media broker All that content is really little more than data. Data that has a value depending upon its meaningfulness to me. Depending upon that meaning, we can start pricing it accordingly. Remember, I will pay (a little) for content that is Original, Timely, Authoritative, Novel, Exclusive, Unique and Quality. How much I will pay depends upon the importance of those factors at any point in time. When Prince William proposes to ??? and I’m a fanatical royalist or incorrigible gossip, I will pay for that breaking news if I can be first at the water cooler to announce it. If I can back it up with a juicy photo even better. But ten minutes later, when that news is in the public domain, when it is free, it still has value but not something I will pay for. Information market pricing Data landscape

17. How I want it, when I want it Professionally created Dedicated amateurs Customers Feeds Other sources Data landscape Information market pricing PC Mobile TV Other device The last piece in this puzzle is the delivery mechanism. The ability as me as a person to consume the content when I want, where I want in the way I want. Video on demand is a start. The video following me across devices is the next step. Add geo-location, augmented reality… What comes next? It is no longer a story of content, it is a holistic experience

18. Mashability! Original Timely Authority Novel Exclusive Unique Raw data Professionally created Dedicated amateurs Customers Feeds Other sources Professionally curated Transformation Information market pricing Data landscape Aggregation Filtering Indexing Tagging Enrichment Media broker PC Mobile TV Other device Device … made possible by mashibility

19. Liquid pricing Old Now Unique Ubiquitous Original hackneyed Authoritative Unreliable Relevant to me I don’t care £££ 0 Information market pricing Data landscape What liquid pricing means – it’s not a binary thing, I either pay x for the content or I don’t get it. Flex the pricing depending upon what it means to me, where and when. The key with the pricing is to keep it cheap. And that means micro payments

20. Micropayments Ringtones SMS Alerts Wallpaper iTunes Apps Google adwords Games Micropayments are becoming more common Information market pricing Data landscape Micropayments are increasingly becoming the digital currency

21. But the act of buying anything, even if the price is very small, creates what Nick Szabo calls mental transaction costs , the energy required to decide whether something is worth buying or not, regardless of price. http://www.shirky.com/writings/fame_vs_fortune.html “ ”

22. Micropayments Ringtones SMS Alerts Wallpaper iTunes Apps Google adwords Games Reduce mental transaction cost Make it easy to use Community Earn stuff back Pay Earn Kerchingle P aypal quidco This barrier, the mental transaction cost can be broken down by making it easy. iTunes and the Apple app store have been so successful because they make it so easy. Why stop there? Why not let the customer earn as they become curators and contributors? Time for new business models.

23. Mashability! Original Timely Authority Novel Exclusive Unique Raw data Professionally created Dedicated amateurs Customers Feeds Other sources Professionally curated Transformation Information market pricing Data landscape Aggregation Filtering Indexing Tagging Enrichment Media broker PC Mobile TV Other device Device Raw data. Enriched. Delivered to the device of your choice. Underpinned by a media broker that appropriately prices content for the consumer.

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