Bing - up go the pay walls.

One of the most amazing things about the internet is its free access to an almost infinite source of global information. While there is Wikipedia, blogs and other (questionable) online content, reputable information can sometimes be difficult to find. However online newspapers, such as The Age, Guardian.co.uk and the Economist are all reputable online news sources that provide (most) of their news content for free. Like most other media outlets who have gone online, there is an increasing trend towards customers viewing their content online. Though this dramatic shift in readership and consumption of news, is having a catastrophic impact on the revenue to news providers.

Whenever you view something online that is free, you are still paying for it through exposure to advertising. Thus news providers make their revenue and profit from having ads beside, or randomly popping up (annoyingly) on screen beside their content. However not enough revenue is coming from online advertising, thus news providers are complaining about their dwindling profits. Though most of these news providers are blaming Google for their problems, claiming Google is freely providing their content and making money from it. This is because whenever you go onto Google News or do a Google search, small text ads will appear beside the results. This is the advertising scheme that is making Google millions in profits, though news outlets don't get a cent. However it is ironic still that whenever you click on a Google News article, it takes you to the news source, thus these online news providers gain revenue from ads on their own sites. While they are blaming Google, Google is generating over half of all traffic to these news sites.

This culminating anger has seen Murdoch propose to Binge (Google's newest rival from Microsoft, who only corners 10% of the search engine market), to its delight, a proposal to shut out Google and put up pay walls, by allowing only Bing access to its online articles, and charging viewers accordingly. More niche news services (such as some parts of the online section of the Economist) are able to get away with putting up pay walls, as selective readers are happy to pay for its valuable content. However the average reader may be a bit more wary and less inclined to using a "micro payments" service (a small charge per article viewed) or a subscription service for online news content. Hence if pay walls go up, readership most likely will decrease.

Though cutting out Google may just cause even more economic hardship to these news providers, as Google  still does provide the greatest traffic to these news sites, and is the most used search engine on the web. Google itself may even come back with a counter offer if it believes Murdoch and other news providers are serious about selectively signing themselves with Bing. If Google gave half of its revenue from ads on its Google News service to news providers who are being linked to by Google, it could be a compromise that would keep both parties happy, except for Microsoft's Bing .

The age of free internet content may be nigh, though with some clever advertising schemes and a compromise with search engines like Google, free quality news that drives blogs like this and fuels the thoughtful minds of inquisitive individuals may continue.

Links

Will Murdoch's Bing gamble pay off? - Guardian.co.uk 
Web Wide War - the Economist