Ad-supported model favoured for games, music and podcasts
01/02/2008
Electronic Arts' Battlefield Heroes, will be freely available online but not in shops later this year. It will be completely supported by ads. This new distribution model and pricing structure has already proved successful in Asia. In certain cases it has raked in higher profit margins for creators of the games. Meanwhile, this week a new ad-supported music download service, Q-trax attracted a lot of media attention.
Unfortunately deals with the major record labels have not yet been secured. If successful, Q-trax would compete with iTunes and other paid services. Ad-supported streaming of full-length tracks is now available from Last FM. However, the tracks can only be streamed three times. In another development, a recent Rajar survey reported that more than half of the 4.3 million Britons who download podcasts prefer the ad-funded model as well.
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