How About This?

In yet another permutation of the advertising/subscription/print/web business model, Variety is converting from a daily publication to a weekly and dropping the paywall from its website. Reduction in the number of printed editions is no surprise, but the switch back to free online content seems a bit strange. 

It's possible that this will ultimately be a bad idea, but it also suggests that there will be no one way for publications to succeed financially, and that the right model of payment and distribution will depend on each publication's audience and niche. The lack of a ready-made, one-size-fits-all model for success will mean a lot of experimentation and a lot of failure.