Are the days of the free internet over?

NEWS Sixty-six per cent of interactive publishers in the UK will start charging for online content in the near future in a bid to battle falling advertising revenue. The findings of a report from the Periodical Publishers Association Interactive (PPAi), follows news that one of its key members, FT.com, will introduce fee-based content within the year. The survey found that online publishers were more concerned with how to charge, rather than whether to charge, with some debate over different types of micro-payment and SMS marketing. FT.com, the latest in a line of UK publishers to introduce charges, is planning to charge up to £100 a year for specialised analysis content. Over the past year the Guardian, Sun, Telegraph and The Times websites have all introduced varying levels of fee-based content. In the US Yahoo, Google and the Wall Street Journal have spearheaded the move to a subscription service. Just 26 per cent of the PPAi members surveyed said they had no plans to make users pay for content, while eight per cent remain undecided.