Bottle or Tap

In our local market, the gaping hole into free content for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette closed with the gating of the northwest Arkansas editions of the statewide paper. The ADG had been paid on-line for some time, but savvy readers knew the vast majority of the content could be read through the Northwest Arkansas Times or Benton County Daily Record -- the NWANews.com website.

As one might suspect, the decision has led to indignation among the Arkansas diaspora. How dare WEHCO take away our news content? We've even had complaints sent into our website at the university asking the Razorbacks to get involved on behalf of the fan base.

Putting the content behind a pay wall is counter-intuitive to the herd's thinking. I have advocated advertising supported free content myself. At the same time, you're telling your audience what it's worth when you give it away for free. For that very reason, over time, free admission never works in athletics or entertainment.

Perception of value is reinforced by cost. The problem comes when cost and value are out of proportion. A $15.95 audio CD with eight to 12 tracks became seen as a ripoff by the masses, and once they could copy and distribute to circumvent the perceived high cost, they did in droves. But a 99-cent digital track proved to resonate with people, and money spent on music is heading back up.

Let me provide another analogy. People drink all the water they could when it is free. Over time, they just expected the water fountain to be there. Every day, we are surrounded by hundreds of thousands of water fountains, faucets and dispensers.

Who drinks from the tap any more? Nobody. Why? Because around 10 years ago a marketing company began to build value into buying water prepackaged in a bottle. It's convenient. It's healthier. It's cleaner. It's safer.

Really?

Studies show that's not necessarily the case. Sometimes the water in the bottle is worse than the tap. Then there is the tremendous cost of packaging and delivery. Plus the environmental impact.

We buy bottled water because we perceive it has greater value than tap water. We pay handsomely and eagerly for it. This is the key for on-line subscriptions. The value added to the information you can get anywhere is what separates the premium newspaper staff written stories from the rest. Not to mention that the media staff has packaged it into an easy to use bottle rather than the virtual fire hose of information that is the internet.