Bezahlschranken werden oft aus Angst vor Printkannibalisierung errichtet

Wolfgang Blau, Chefredakteur von Zeit Online, denkt auf Google+ laut über die Paywallstrategien vieler Presseverlage nach und kommt zu dem wahrscheinlich in sehr vielen Fällen zutreffenden Schluss, dass es vielen Verlagen weniger um das Geldverdienen im Netz geht und mehr um den Schutz des Printgeschäfts:

The wish for paywalls – often coming from the print editorial side, not even from the publishers – seems to be driven primarily by the flawed idea of ‚protecting‘ the print business and its societal influence by intentionally reducing the societal visibility, audience and influence of their own online publications.

The obvious risk of making even less money online with a paywall than with an open and ad-based site is being brushed away with the kill-all argument that on the print side there are much higher revenues at stake. This rationale boils down to – maybe – protecting the present a little longer at the cost of having a future.

Angst vor Kannibalisierung. Spitzenmäßige Entscheidungsgrundlage.

Und einer der Lehrbuchgründe, warum nach Clayton M. Christensen etablierte Unternehmen von Disruptionen überrollt werden:

The fear of cannibalizing sales of existing products is often cited as a reason why established firms delay the introduction of new technologies. As the Seagate-Conner experience illustrates, however, if new technologies enable new market applications to emerge, the introduction of new technology may not be inherently cannibalistic. But when established firms wait until a new technology has become commercially mature in its new applications and launch their own version of the technology only in response to an attack on their home markets, the fear of cannibalization can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.