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Michael Wolff writes in the NYT that online-media revolutionaries once figured they could eat TV's lunch by stealing TV's business model with free content supported by advertising but online media is now drowning in free and internet traffic has glutted the ad market, forcing down rates. Digital publishers, from The Guardian to BuzzFeed, can stay ahead only by chasing more traffic — not loyal readers, but millions of passing eyeballs, so fleeting that advertisers naturally pay less and less for them. Meanwhile, the television industry has been steadily weaning itself off advertising — like an addict in recovery, starting a new life built on fees from cable providers and all those monthly credit-card debits from consumers. Today, half of broadcast and cable's income is non-advertising based. And since adult household members pay the cable bills, TV content has to be grown-up content: "The Sopranos," "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad," "The Wire," "The Good Wife."
So how did this tired, postwar technology seize back the crown? Television, not digital media, is mastering the model of the future: Make 'em pay. And the corollary: Make a product that they'll pay for. BuzzFeed has only its traffic to sell — and can only sell it once. Television shows can be sold again and again, with streaming now a third leg to broadcast and cable, offering a vast new market for licensing and syndication. Television is colonizing the Internet and people still spend more time watching television than they do on the Internet and more time on the Internet watching television. "The fundamental recipe for media success, in other words, is the same as it used to be," concludes Wolff, "a premium product that people pay attention to and pay money for. Credit cards, not eyeballs."
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Wednesday July 01 2015, @12:10AM
That's assuming abandonware was/is a problem. I see GOG's approach as problematic instead... The company is making money off games they didn't help create by bundling it with an emulator they also have no hand in — and that'd be fine (nothing wrong with making money by creating the bundles) *except* rather than just let the people buy from them that are happy to pay for their bundled copy, they've pressured all of the abandonware sites to replace those games with links to GOG, making it so *everyone* that wants to play has to pay GOG.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday July 01 2015, @06:33PM
The entire reason for Abandonware Sites was to preserve Gaming History. GOG is doing a fabulous job of that. Even more than that they are also enticing Developers and Copyright holders to release their software DRM Free on GOG. Sure, I could wish that all companies on earth, released their software as freeware after 15 years, but that's somewhat unrealistic. I am hopeful that perhaps Steam will use GOG as their Archival system for older / unsupported games. GOG doesn't just release a random crappy zip file. They release, an installer, manuals, sound tracks, and sometimes even more interesting things with the games they sell. They also have great sales during Summer and Christmas. Terraria is a great example of a Developer releasing their game DRM Free on GOG. Though, with the GOG version they also released the sound track, which you had to purchase separate from Steam. I actually bought the game on Steam, found the Sound Track author's random place they were selling and bought it there, and then bought the game with free sound track on GOG. I actually payed more for the Sound Track than I did for the game on Steam or GOG. I probably have less than $20 invested in the game/soundtrack and I now own a DRM Free version. Abandonware is illegal. What GOG is doing is legal and they are providing you extra stuff that you may have never received otherwise. Not all of the games on GOG require DOSBox. The Abandonware sites have survived this long, because they flew under the radar of anyone who cared. All of the Abandonware sites are living under the graces of the copyright holders who just haven't bothered to sue them, probably, because in most cases they could care less. GOG is making a sustainable ecosystem for DRM Free versions of all games that you won't lose access to, because some company or random abdandonware site ceased to exist.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"