(article continued below ...)
 

For quite some time now everyone has been enjoying the free ride that the Internet has offered ....... but are those days quickly coming to a end?

According to a recent survey 42% of online adults expect that one day they will have to pay for online content. This figure is down 3% from a survey taken in August of 2000. Still, all signs are pointing toward paid sites.

Current predictions are that revenue from paid online content will go from $1.4 billion in 2002, to $5.8 billion by 2006.

Why are more and more sites going from free to fee? In a word, revenue. When the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, ad sales hit the skids and sites were forced to find other ways to be profitable.

For a lot of web sites, paid content is paying off big time. A couple of prime examples are RealNetworks and AmericanGreetings.com.

RealNetworks started charging $10-$20 a month for their content about 3 months ago and they already have a half-million subscribers!

In December of 2001 AmericanGreetings.com began charging $19.95 for access to their previously free e-mail greetings. At this writing they have garnered 1 million members.

ABC News has already ended its free video clips and CNN is removing their free video clips this week from all their sites. Other sites are sure to follow this trend and before you know it you will have to pay for just about everything that used to be free for the taking.

Jupiter Media Metrix recently did a online survey revealing that "70% of online adults can't understand why anyone would pay for online content."

What I'd like to know is why do they feel as if everything should be free? Is the Internet any different than a brick and mortar business? When was the last time you went shopping at your favorite store and came out with bags of free merchandise? Since when did your local car dealership start giving out free vehicles?

We all need to get a grip on reality and face the fact that the Internet isn't any different than the newspaper or magazine that you pay for. The day of the freebies are surely numbered and before you know it it will all be over with. If not, more and more dot-coms will go under. They simply can't afford to maintain and promote their site with a zero dollar budget.

Now the question is what and how much will you be willing to pay for? Consider this, ConsumerReports already has over 800,000 subscribers shelling out $24 a year for their online magazine. That's $19,200,000.00 per year! I don't know about you, but that's over 19 million reasons to consider a pay for content site.