The Media Futurist has a great PDF presentation regarding the Paid Content vs. Free (or ad supported) Content. From the event description: The Internet is forcing the content industries (music, film, publishing, news, TV, print etc) around the globe into reboot mode as far as their traditional business models and monetization strategies are concerned. Always-on, hyper-networked, location-aware, ever faster and smarter yet more affordable mobile devices are further escalating the urgent need for the creation of a new content logic; a new ecosystem that involves device makers and CE companies, ISPs, mobile operators and telecoms, search engines and Internet portals, content creators and media companies, as well as brands and advertisers. New players are emerging from these sectors, and few paradigms will remain untouched.
Who will get paid for what, why and how?
How will content be ’sold’ online?
What about bundles, flat rates and subscriptions?
Where does advertising and mobile commerce come in?
Publisher content is the backbone of a web of information on the Internet. Without publisher content, search engines would have less results to provide thus searchers would be less likely to find relevant results. Content producers, namely large publishers, have known this for years but have been trying to determine the best way to position content to monetize on this strength. This could help examine the recent trend by the large search engine companies jump into their own unique content development. Additionally, bloggers have begun to realize and capitalize on content production via the emergence of the blogosphere… Read more over at SomewhatFrank.