Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Contenture Takes On Micropayments

Portland-based Contenture said this week that it has launched a micropayment system which allows publishers to collect micropayments from their readers. According to the firm, it will allow publishers to provide "premium" content to users who use its system, and divide up revenue from web sites among the sites that a user visits during the month. The firm charges users a monthly fee--starting at $5.99 a month--and divides that fee among all of the participating publishers based on user traffic to sites. The company said it takes 20% of that fee. The firm is particularly targeting newspapers and magazines with the offering, saying that traditional publishers "do not have an online business model to monetize their premium content."