A revenue model for online media

busdust — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:03:15 +0000

Online media – newspapers in particular – still seem to be searching for the suitable revenue model. The subscription model turns readers away; the advertising model doesn’t pay for the journalists and meet return on equity projections for shareholders. The classic illustration is Rupert Murdoch, who upon purchasing the Wall Street Journal announced that he would be making the publication free to all online, but has since recanted with a further announcement, stating that the advertising model simply doesn’t work. It is no doubt a challenge for all media CEOs – old media versus new media – with no easy answer. The information age offers so many alternatives for news and the like; free alternatives (albeit more often than not lesser quality alternatives) to any publication that opts for the subscriber model. What percentage of website surfers will pay to read a well written article over a free less well written article? Protectionist legislation is being considered in the US, but it is hard to believe that propping up an industry that cannot evolve and stand on it’s own is the solution. Certainly in specialist fields subscription based journals will survive and quite likely thrive, but in the general media, who knows. And this in itself has potential negative implications on the literacy of society.

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A revenue model for online media