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Environmental
Scan of Pricing Models for Online Content
Prepared by Albert W. Darimont
OnDisC Project
November 2001
©OnDisC Alliance 2001
1.
Executive Summary
2. Introduction
3. E-Business
Models
4. E-resources
in Today's Academic Libraries
5. Library
E-business
6. E-journals
7. Subject
Based Gateways
8. Content
Aggregators
9. Non-profit,
subsidized
10. Content Providers
11. Conclusion
12. References
Content Providers
A partial list of interesting content provides
follows. A more complete list can be found in
Appendix B.
For Profit WebCT
http://www.webct.com/
A provider of software for hosting educational
content on the web. They have a number of education
content partners including McGraw Hill Education,
Pearson and Thomson. The software is available
by subscription. Pricing is per server account
using the software, and is available for four
time periods: four, six, eight or twelve months.
An unlimited single server license is US $3,000
per year.
Brainpop
http://www.brainpop.com/
A producer of animated educational videos and
shorts. Revenue comes from advertising, corporate
sponsorship and subscriptions (US $50 home schools
& families, $100 for schools).
DigitalCurriculum
http://www.aimsmultimedia.com/dct/index.htm
DigitalCurriculum.com is produced, developed,
and maintained by AIMS Multimedia, a producer
of training programs for business, government
and education. Teaching modules including streaming
video are available to schools on a subscription
basis; they start at US $975/year per school.
A unique feature of the service is that is available
to everyone in the school (teaching modules
only to teachers) at any internet access point
– class, library, even home.
Unitedstreaming
http://www.unitedstreaming.com/
A provider of educational video content, it
offers access to over 900 core curriculum online
video programs for K-12 on an annual subscription
basis. It costs about US $2,000/year (for high
schools), with some discounts for consortia.
Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/
The online version of Encyclopedia Britannica
is two tier – a free very limited version
supported by advertising banners and a referral
arrangement with Barnes & Nobles Online,
and a premium level of service that provides
all 32 volumes ad-free with streaming audio
and video. Subscription is US $7.95/month or
$50/year.
Nonprofit Classical Archive
http://www.classicalarchives.com/index.html
The Classical Archive features a collection
of over 15,000 classical music files, mostly
midi but some mp3 format. The site is funded
through voluntary subscription at two levels
– friend at $25/year and patron at $500/year.
The site also has a learning centre and features
columns and editorials about classical music.
How Stuff Works
http://www.howstuffworks.com
How Stuff Works is a free online encyclopedia
that is supported by two revenue streams: Ads
and sponsorships, and the sale of products including
HowStuffWorks branded products (CD-ROM and book
version of the web site and a monthly newsletter
aimed at school teachers). Advertising can be
“integrated” within an article (integrated
sponsorship) or it can be a “link” sponsorship
(a companies’ website is located in the link
section of an article).
Freecode
http://www.freecode.com/index/
A website that acts as a depository and
distribution centre for software code. The site
features banner advertising, and is sponsored
by the Opens Source Development Network (OSDN),
which is owned by VA Linux.
The Great Chicago Fire
http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/intro/gcf-index.html
This website is a small focused online exhibit
featuring photographs and essays about the great
Chicago File. It received support from the Chicago
Historical Society, Academic Technologies of
Northwester University, and H-Net: Humanities
Online (with funding from the National Endowment
for the Humanities).
The Chopin Files
http://www.chopinfiles.com/
Streaming audio, essays and sheet music all
for free, with no visible means of support.
8notes
http://www.8notes.com
This site features over 1,500 free sheets of
classical, jazz and traditional sheet music
as well as articles, lessons and a forum. The
site is funded by selling advertising banners;
they currently serve over two million banner
ads per month at the following rates : 468x60
Banner Ad = $8/1,000 Views ($80 Minimum) 125x125
Banner Ad = $4/1,000 Views ($80 Minimum)
The Artchive
http://www.artchive.com/
The Artchive is a free resource for students,
artists and art lovers featuring online images
of artwork, as well as essays, criticism and
reviews. They receive banner advertising revenue,
affiliate referral fees (5% from Amazon, 15%
from Barewalls) and receives funding from other
art businesses on the web (e.g. Eyestorm, Bronze
Direct). They also receive funding from patronage;
they give CD versions of the web site for $50
donations.
The Web Gallery of Art
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/
The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum
and searchable database of European painting
and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance and
Baroque periods (1150‑1800), currently containing
over 9,200 reproductions. Biographies, commentaries,
guided tours are available. The site is free
and there is no apparent means of support; it
may receive donations or grants but none are
solicited.>
Shakespeare Online
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/default.asp
A free site with all things Shakespeare; it
is supported by advertising banners (receives
two million hits/month.) It also receives affiliate
referral revenue from Barnes&Noble.com.
DNA From the Beginning
http://vector.cshl.org/dnaftb/
A multimedia primer on the basics of DNA, genes
and heredity. Material includes animation, images,
text, and video interviews. It is a free source
funded by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. It
also sells CD-ROM versions of the website.
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