Evaluating Consumer Acceptance for Protected Digital Content

Abstract

This paper argues that content providers must overcome three hurdles to establish a viable business model for monetizing copyrighted digital content on the Internet. First, content providers must change perspectives to view the pirating of their content as a competitive threat and not just as theft. This implies they must learn to compete against pirated versions of their own products. Second, content providers must come to view the Internet as a new distribution channel that is fundamentally different from any they have used to date. Accordingly, they must accept that this new distribution channel differs from their existing channels with its specific consumer behavior, needs and willingness to pay. Finally, content providers need to gain insight into the impact of channel controls, such as protection technologies, on consumer adoption. Thus, content providers need to find the threshold for how much protection technology consumers are willing to accept for paid digital content.