I hear this every time I write a column about newspaper archives, or about content pricing. Part of the rationale for retaining high prices is concern that low Web archive prices will cannibalize the high rates charged for the same content on article database services like Lexis-Nexis. But that's clearly a myth. Users of professional database services like Lexis-Nexis pay premium rates for the convenience of searching across multiple publications. It's not rational for them to save money by spending much more time searching a bunch of individual news archives that charge only 25 cents per downloaded article.
Convenience outweighs price for the professional and corporate researcher community.
Ergo, newspapers are leaving money on the table by not lowering their archive prices to rates that will entice consumers to go ahead and buy an article after they're found it in an archive search. Indeed, anything above 99 cents is too high when it comes to selling consumer content to a consumer audience. Think of a high school student doing research, or a parent helping their kids find some information. At 25 or 50 cents an article, these online customers might make several article purchases. This is new money that will make up for prices lowered from today's typical, untenable archive rates.