Online Competition and Performance of News and Information Markets in the Netherlands

<jats:p> Publishers are intermediaries between original content producers, users and advertisers in the information value chain. Internet offers them an additional channel to accomplish these intermediary tasks, next to the traditional print channel. The emergence of this new communication channel threatens the profitable position of incumbent publishers, because internet reduces market entry barriers for new providers of free information. At the same time, internet offers publishers new opportunities to develop stronger relationships with users. Case studies of the online market for news, nice-to-know consumer magazines and need-to-know professional information in the Netherlands suggest that incumbent publishers use these opportunities more aggressively when they face stronger threats from new entrants. The main beneficiaries of the resulting intensified competition between publishers and new entrants are individual information users. </jats:p>