When Andrew Sullivan took back his political blog, “The Daily Dish,” from the Daily Beast, he started an independent company. Instead of relying on advertising, “The Dish” would cover hosting costs and payroll with subscriptions. Sullivan calls this business plan, an alternative digital publishing model if you will, “reader-supported.” Yesterday, “The Dish” released a report on its meter, a system that tracks the number of articles a user reads before engaging a subscription pay-wall. Thus far, the meter has resulted in $93,000 worth of new subscriptions. Including pre-subscriptions, “The Dish” has raised two-thirds of its goal funding in three weeks.
Although the publishing model at hand is revolutionary, because it jettisons advertisers and their influence, “The Dish” has not yet reached its full disruptive potential. The word meter implies a kind of gradated scale, a sort of pay-as-you-go that is antithetical to a subscription service. A true meter might work along two axes: 1) A consumer provides credit-card information, and for each article read, a (very) small amount is charged to their account, or a consumer adds money to a debit account, from which the charge is subtracted, or 2) A consumer is charged for time spent on site. For example, if you wanted to read one article from a publication, you could pay a fraction of the full subscription price. Or if you thought that you would spend less time reading content than a subscription price assumed, you could opt-in to the time charge. Basically, the difference is analogous to that between single ride metrocards, loaded metrocards, and unlimited ride metrocards. At each level, the customer is awarded a discount, bonus, or premium for opting in to a heavier use-expectation. But someone who is only in town for the weekend shouldn’t have to purchase a month-long unlimited ride card.
To lean on personal anecdote, I (Jason, the author of this post) refuse to pay certain subscription fees because my expected use is situated far below the break-even point. If a digital publisher offered the chance to pay-as-you-go, I would be more likely to opt-in, as a rational consumer. Otherwise, my money goes to waste when I buy an unlimited card but only ride twice a week.