2010: The Year of the Successful Online News Paywall?

Sweeping aside the controversy and nonsense surrounding the issue of online news content paywalls, the Financial Times has stepped up to the mark to note 2010 will see income from paywalls surpassing ad revenues. The FT Group's chief exec John Ridding is responsible for the news, unequivocally stating "we reckon [2010] will be the first year that revenues from content overtake revenues from print advertising." Since the online content is protected by a partial paywall, and many corporate subscribers pay for physical editions of the paper to keep abreast of financial news, its these figures that represent what Ridding is referring to as "content revenues." And though the news seems small, it's pretty amazing stuff: Advertising revenues are, for many, the one and only way to make money in a world where physical newspapers readership figures are dipping, and where the online publishing market is dominated by a free-for-all philosophy for access. So, will 2010 be the year of the successful news site paywall? Not for everyone, perhaps, though it might work for some. The physical newspaper also isn't quite dead yet, so don't expect to see them disappearing this year. Unless, that is, some upstart newcomer with revolutionary digital content distribution on a paradigm-breaking piece of hardware comes along. Apple Tablet anyone?