Cannibalism beats starving

Just read these two articles on rethinking print, responsive advertising and the web. I think they’ve missed the point for two simple reasons:

• They seem to be convinced that people won’t pay for things on the internet.
• They’re similarly convinced that advertising is the way people will have to get paid on the web.

I disagree. People are starting from a previous medium and business model and trying to work out how to support what they’ve accumulated. It’s the same attitude that is worried about cannibalizing print distribution. Cannibals are less likely to starve in this environment.

Plenty of people are paying for things on the web, and this will continue to grow. Those that win won’t be those working out how to support what they’ve built. It will be those building what they can support.