TheStreet.com CEO: Customers will pay for content

Brandon Gutman of Forbes.com interviewed TheStreet.com CEO Daryl Otte, who spoke about the financial news site’s strategy to boost readers and revenue.

Here is an excerpt:

Why is TheStreet becoming more successful at attracting advertisers beyond financial services?

Our users are affluent, educated professionals, and they are deeply engaged in the content we produce — be it an article, a video, an interactive graphic or one of our many data and analytical tools.  These folks want to make, spend and save money, so they are keenly receptive to advertising that helps them act on these desires.  Our research shows that if the message is right, our users are as receptive to the advertising as they are to the editorial content.

What can we expect to see from TheStreet in 2011?

We’re building on our vertical orientation with an enhanced iPad application and a syndication strategy that puts our content in front of users on all the screens in their lives and at other media partners with similar audiences, like the Journal Register Company.  We are also upgrading our premium service offerings, having already introduced two new services, OptionsProfits and ETF Profits.  On the strength of those launches, we are happy to announce that we will be officially rolling out modernized versions of our flagship services Real Money and Real Money Pro in the near future, which will aim to give subscribers access to a host of action-oriented trade ideas and news from a complexion of industry voices including investing guru Doug Kass, all coupled with some really interesting social media functionality.

Read more here.