Matthew Schwartz of BtoB magazine writes that many advertisers are questioning whether The Wall Street Journal’s web site should drop its 1 million subscriptions and make itself a free site.
Schwartz wrote, “Ken Doctor, media analyst at research and advisory company Outsell Inc., said making WSJ.com free may force advertisers to choose between ‘less is more or more is more.’
“In the less is more equation, advertisers can reach a relatively narrow yet ‘incredibly high end of the market’ in terms of decision-makers, Doctor said. ‘More is more is the free model, giving advertisers pools of potential buyers they might not otherwise reach, and that’s good.’
“B-to-b media buyers are on the fence. In a free model, WSJ.com would likely require people to register, which should enable business advertisers to continue targeting their messages, said Chris Philip, chief experience officer of b-to-b ad agency Doremus.
“‘More is more, but in this case maybe not,’ he said, referring to the spike in WSJ.com traffic that’s expected should the Web site go free. ‘Without being able to still target, it’s going to be hard for b-to-b advertisers to justify their spending.'”
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