Lycos road to profitability

subsription based content

[heini]

TerraLycos has in itīs Q301 report stated that the company is well on itīs road to profitability. Costs have been cut, revenues increased. To continue revenue growth lycos will go for an

OBP (Open, Basic, Premium) payment model. Basic services and content open to all Internet users will be complemented by additional value-added services and content, with more advanced features, which users are prepared to pay for.

TerraLycos consequently pushes Broadband technology in order to sell pay services and content. Example:

(Spanish)Terra ADSL Plus, which captured 10,000 customers in a little more than a week, includes all the advantages of ADSL technology, as well as access to a wide variety of content and services specially created for this technology.

Another step on this road is the content cooperation with Bertelsmann, leading to subscription based channels for audio and video streaming, as reported here:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum6/764.htm [webmasterworld.com]

[Travoli]

do you think people will actually pay for the premium services?

[heini]

Lycos Europe Music Channel will present BMG-Stars as Whitney Houston, Santana, Eros Ramazotti online.
Hmmm - if they pay me I might consider listening...

This spanish model seems to work. Generally Iīm sure paid entertainment channels are a way to go. Surveys ahve shown an increasing number of people willing to pay for premium content.
All major portals are thinking in this direction. Lycos and Bertelsmann are in a similar position as AOL with Time Warner: Media companies seeking to sell their products over the internet with huge portals as outlets. TerraLycos in addition has a strong footing in access providing and broadband - bring the three components together and you have entertainment channels.