News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday that newspapers must find a way to charge for online content to make up for declining ad revenue.
“People are used to reading everything on the net for free, and that’s going to have to change,” Murdoch told attendees at the annual Cable Show event in Washington, D.C.
Murdoch cited The New York Times as an example, saying it has a “very, very good Web site.” He said he did not believe the paper would make any money online unless it changes its current business model.
Rupert Murdoch
“They cannot give their advertising away itself because the inventory of display adverting on the web is doubling every year, so they’re never going to make money out of it on an advertising model,” he said.
“I think the classifieds, though, which was their river of gold, is probably draining away and will be gone forever.”
Murdoch owns The Wall Street Journal, which News Corp purchased in 2007 along with its parent Dow Jones & Co, is one of the few major U.S. newspapers that charges for access to its online content.
News Corp also owns the New York Post, the Times of London and other papers in Britain and Australia, which are available for free online.
Murdoch also said News Corp is investing with partners in a new mobile device that would allow people to read electronic versions of newspapers.
The portable device would be different than Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s E-Reader in that it would be designed more for the newspaper format.
“What we’re investing in and others are investing in – and it’s only software development at the moment – is a bigger panel to look a little bit like a small newspaper, but very readable, four colors, and you get the edition as of that moment,” he said.
