Forbes to pay contributors less for old content

Forbes has decided to pay its online contributors less for stories that are clicked on that are more than 90 days old, reports Jim Romenesko.

Romenesko writes, “Assistant managing editor Kerry Dolan writes in a memo [with my boldface]:

“”We [currently] pay the same for every view, whether it comes from new content, or content that’s 90 days old, or a year old, or 3 years old. Starting April 1, we’ll pay the same rate we now pay per visitor to content that’s within 90 days of publication. We’ll pay 25% of that amount for visitors to content more than 90 days old.‘

“The full memo:

As you’re probably aware, the digital advertising marketplace is changing, radically and suddenly.

In the past few months there’s been a drastic move toward ad viewability — in other words, advertisers only paying for the ads we can prove that people see.

In addition, advertisers are increasingly buying premium ads for new content, not old.

To keep pace with these changes we need a reset on the way we’ve paid our contributors.

And that’s going to impact the way your earnings are calculated.

Right now, we pay people on a variety of plans, and we pay the same for every view, whether it comes from new content, or content that’s 90 days old, or a year old, or 3 years old.

Starting April 1, we’ll pay the same rate we now pay per visitor to content that’s within 90 days of publication. We’ll pay 25% of that amount for visitors to content more than 90 days old.”

Read more here.