An interesting tidbit from yesterday’s MediaFinance conference, via Journalism.co.uk – Absolute Radio COO Clive Dickens is mulling over asking listeners whether they would pay £10 a year for ad-free online radio streaming.
“Some percentage of our community will pay for content,” he said, but Dickens says any eventual launch would be just one plank of a mixed-model strategy that would continue to depend on ad support. The old Virgin Radio may have lost traditional listeners in its first Rajars since rebranding, but skews more heavily toward DAB and online listeners than others, having been the first radio station in Europe to start streaming.
Separately, Time Out CEO Tony Elliott (also via J.co.uk) told MediaFinance the listings guide is targeting 16 to 20 percent higher 2009 online revenue. That’s partly because he’s considering charging for some sections of the website, but not all: “We haven’t reached the point yet where people are buying quality audiences. I would love everybody to pay for content (