Murdoch Talks Down Micropayments

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has ruled out micropayments as a standalone business model for online news.

In an interview with TheStreet.com, the News Corp chief executive said his company is still figuring out a viable model for generating revenue on the Web.

However, Murdoch revealed he’s not confident about the potential of micropayments to answer the paid content question.

“I don’t think people will pay for it. We’re still thinking our way through this and there will be micropayments as part of it, but I’m thinking much more along the lines of subscriptions like The Wall Street Journal does,” he said.

The News Corp chairman also pointed out that “no one monetises the Web today to any extent other than search,” and said he had “no idea” how a site like Twitter could turn interest into revenue.

In May, the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal announced a new micropayment scheme for non-subscribers.

[Picture – Coin Stacks by Darren Hester on Flickr]