The Great Debate: Murdoch Vs. Google
As reported by Mumbrella there has been quite a buzz online this week surrounding insights that came out of Rupert Murdoch’s recent interview on Sky News. Murdoch stated that once News Corp’s websites transition to a paid model (where consumers must pay to access news articles) it would de-list its websites from Google.
Think of the amount of hits that News Corp’s websites receive from Google each day! Internet suicide some would say?!
But herein lies Murdoch’s point. Its websites may receive staggering numbers of hits from the search engine but what type of quality of traffic is it driving? Will it encourage loyalty to its many printed publications when similar if not the same articles are available free online? And does the revenue received for online advertising make its websites profitable? Murdoch suggests definitely not.
In Murdoch’s logic, a low level of engagement with one-time readers drawn in by an eye-grabbing headline on Google does not encourage loyalty or increase engagement, which are two factors that can affect the pricing structure of online advertising.
Mashable claims that the interview illustrates how Murdoch is out of touch with how news and information is now disseminated. The article also outlines that it is possible to have paid news content partly accessible to search engines, enticing web users to pay to read the rest of the story.
Digital commentator, Jason Calacanis suggested that de-listing from Google creates opportunities for other search engines such as Bing to gain a competitive advantage, offering News Corp 50% more revenue then they are currently getting from Google search referrals in order to be exclusively indexed on Bing.
So who is right and where is the future of online news headed? If you have an opinion, leave a comment and let us know what you think.