Until recently, free content was subsidized by IPO and VC money. But once those sources dried up, these sites have no choice but to pay their way. Salon readers, and Web audiences in general, have been conditioned to expect quality content for free, O'Brien said. If the absence of ads and extra content is enough to entice loyal Salon readers to pay, that's a sign that people's expectations are changing. Scott Rosenberg, senior vice president of editorial operations at Salon, said Slate's failed experiment doesn't necessarily mean paid subscriptions won't work for Salon.
Online users are willing to contribute to pay for it.
Rosenberg pointed out that despite the poor ad market, Salon's been experiencing record-breaking traffic in recent months. The site had 2.7 million unique visitors in February. I don't know what publishers can do but to try to develop revenue in ways that don't sacrifice the editorial integrity of what they're doing. As for the beefier ads, Salon has done user surveys to find out what readers think of them, but wouldn't comment on the results. I was shocked and annoyed.