The freemium business model – the way forward?
Jinfo Blog

6th July 2009

By Penny Crossland

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Just as newspapers are debating whether to continue offering free access to articles online, with editors and proprietors questioning the viability of the free internet business model used by the major newspapers (http://digbig.com/5baamr ), we hear of a couple of business information publishers experimenting with the freemium business model. Emerald Group Publishing (http://info.emeraldinsight.com) has decided to experiment with a variation on the theme (http://digbig.com/5baaan). The publisher of academic and management journals recently announced that subscribers to Emerald Management Plus, a new online journal collection, would, for a period of two months, be provided with free access to new titles as they are launched. The publisher has stated its aim as identifying innovative publication ideas while offering ‘research you can use’ to its customers. Over the course of the next two years, Emerald will be launching more than 25 new titles under this model, including journals dealing with tourism, financial markets research, Chinese entrepreneurship, Indian business research and climate change.(http://info.emeraldinsight.com/new_launch/index.htm.) All titles of interest to those researching current business and environmental concerns. Another information product using the freemium business model is Alacra Pulse Professional, launched at the recent SLA conference in Washington. Gary Price reported earlier this year on Alacra’s basic Street Pulse service (http://www.vivavip.com/go/e16374) – the company has now released a premium version of the Pulse platform (http://digbig.com/5baamt), supported by advertising and the sale of relevant credit and investment research. By aggregating news and blogs on a company, the Pulse research product has now turned into a current awareness tool, allowing subscribers to create watch lists, receive email alerts on companies in their portfolio and share the information received with colleagues or clients. Although still in the experimental stage, it would seem that some business information publishers have stolen a march on the newspaper industry when it comes to finding a viable online business model.

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