Britannica.com Inc. will no longer provide content from the Encyclopaedia Britannica for free and instead will begin a subscription service for the online content - again.
Like other content sites that didn't find enough gold in Internet advertising, Britannica.com is changing its business model. The restructuring, announced last week, will involve a 31% layoff of Britannica.com's workforce and heavy marketing of other pay services, such as BritannicaSchool.com.
The evolution of online content business at Britannica.com:
1994
The Encyclopaedia Britannica goes online, for a fee. It's the first encyclopaedia to post its entire content on the Internet.
1999
Content becomes free to users.
2001
Subscription fees reinstated amid a general change in revenue models for internet businesses.
observers believed that Internet services had to be supported mainly through advertising," said Don Yannias, Britannica.com's CEO. "We are out there in the marketplace, however, and we're convinced that a diversified business model combining free and subscription-supported products is the road to success." Britannica.com, a private company in Chicago, wouldn't disclose advertising or other revenue.
According to Britannica.com spokesman Tom Panelas, the subscription service will be rolled out within the next several months; however, the company hasn't yet formulated a pricing model.
The news comes less than 18 months after Britannica.com launched its free service on the Web. Before that, the Encyclopaedia Britannica was available through Britannica Online. That subscription service was the first to put the entire contents of an encyclopedia on the Web in 1994.
Britannica Online had two pricing models in place before Britannica.com went live in October 1999. For individuals, the cost was $5 per month, or $50 for a year's subscription. For institutions, like colleges, the cost was, on average, 50 cents per seat. The more seats an institution purchased, the lower the per-seat cost.
When Britannica.com debuted, a crushing surge of 10 million visitors forced the site to temporarily shut down. But that popularity apparently didn't translated into monetary success for the subsidiary of Luxembourg-based Encyclopaedia Britannica Holding SA.
Moving back to the subscription model makes sense, said analyst Harry Wolhandler at ActivMedia Research LLC in Peterborough, N.H.
"Early on, nobody knew what the revenue model was going to be, and as long as the investors were willing to fund any crazy idea that came along," the advertising model worked, Wolhandler said.
With investors skittish on tech investments in the past few months, "all of a sudden, decision-making is going to become more rational," he said.
Britannica.com Inc. will no longer provide content from the Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. is the company known for publishing the Encyclopædia Britannica, the world's oldest continuously published encyclopaedia. The company also owns the American dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster, and though historically British, is now based in Chicago, USA.
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for free and instead will begin a subscription service for the online content – again. Like other content sites that didn't find enough gold in Internet advertising, Britannica.com is changing its business model.
Visitors do have free access to a limited amount of digital content on Britannica.com. Britannica Kids, however, requires a premium membership to view content.
In the 21st century, the Britannica suffered first from competition with the digital multimedia encyclopaedia Microsoft Encarta, and later with the online peer-produced encyclopaedia Wikipedia. In March 2012, it announced it would no longer publish printed editions and would focus instead on the online version.
You will not be charged during your free trial, and you can cancel at any time. If you decide not to cancel your subscription, your service will continue at $1.44 a week (billed annually at $74.95) for your first year and renew after that year at the then-current rate annually. All subscriptions are billed annually.
In 1994 Britannica debuted the first Internet-based encyclopaedia. Users paid a fee to access the information, which was located at http://www.eb.com. In 1994 Britannica Online was released for subscription over the Internet.
Britannica's content is among the most trusted in the world. Every article is written, and continually fact-checked, by our experts. Subscribe to Britannica Premium and unlock our entire database of trusted content today.
The Encyclopedia Britannica contains carefully edited articles on all major topics. It fits the ideal purpose of a reference work as a place to get started, or to refer back to as you read and write. The articles in Britannica are written by expert authors who are both identifiable and credible.
Wikipedia's Outline of knowledge includes many images (including maps, pictures, etc.), and supports the inclusion of images throughout. Britannica's Outline of Knowledge is currently broader (covering the overall spectrum of subjects more evenly) and it is more refined.
The Internet has rendered vintage encyclopedias obsolete and today the value is primarily from people looking to have a set similar to the one that they grew up with. A complete 1967 white britannica encyclopedia sells for $50 or so at auction and for $120 to $150 from antique book dealers.
Merriam Co. —renamed Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, in 1982—which is located in Springfield, Massachusetts, and which since 1964 has been a subsidiary of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Not only are we digital, we are diversified. Only 15 % of our revenue comes from Britannica content.The other 85% comes from learning and instructional materials we sell to the elementary and high school markets and consumer space.
Enlarge / The Encyclopedia Britannica, a competitor of World Book, ended its print run in 2012. A World Book rep told Quartz in 2019 that the print encyclopedia sold mostly to schools, public libraries, and homeschooling families.
Today, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., markets the Britannica in more than 100 countries around the world and is also the parent company of Merriam-Webster, Inc., publishers of the famed dictionaries; Compton's MultiMedia Publishing Group, Inc.; Evelyn Wood, Inc.; and Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation, ...
The first 13 editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica are all in the public domain. The original 14th edition (1929–1933) was a completely new edition in 24 volumes. No record of copyright renewal has been found.
The rich combination of the venerable Encyclopaedia Britannica, academic magazines and periodicals provides the variety of reliable resources designed to meet the research and productivity requirements of colleges and academic libraries.
Authors of articles in general encyclopedias, or encyclopedias that cover all subject areas (such as the Encyclopedia Britannica), are not always listed. There are few situations in which you would list an entire encyclopedia in your references; you will need to list the individual article(s) that you consulted.
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Introduction: My name is Zonia Mosciski DO, I am a enchanting, joyous, lovely, successful, hilarious, tender, outstanding person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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