What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism
What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism
What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
The Story So Far: <strong>What</strong> <strong>We</strong> <strong>Know</strong> <strong>About</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Business</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Digital</strong> <strong>Journalism</strong>are looking for online discount coupons, has become successful with wittycome-ons and obvious value. Groupon has expanded rapidly into hundreds<strong>of</strong> markets and has turned down a $6 billion <strong>of</strong>fer from Google. 12Impact: <strong>Digital</strong> provides <strong>the</strong> ability to target advertisers’ messages and bettermetrics to determine impact. But users find that many digital ads on newssites convey little information and value.• <strong>Digital</strong> platforms provide ano<strong>the</strong>r way for advertising departments toattract new clients and retain old ones. For salespeople who don’t feel<strong>the</strong>y have enough arrows in <strong>the</strong>ir quiver, online and mobile can be a way toget a reluctant advertiser into <strong>the</strong> fold.Impact: Media companies can bolster more pr<strong>of</strong>itable legacy sales in traditionalmedia by adding digital, and in <strong>the</strong> process, can move <strong>the</strong>ir clients tonewer platforms. But deals that combine legacy and digital ad sales make itdifficult to determine how much revenue is truly attributable to new media.At some companies, half <strong>of</strong> digital sales have been “bundled” with print orbroadcast, and <strong>the</strong> way those dollars are apportioned can be largely at <strong>the</strong>whim <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> accountants, ra<strong>the</strong>r than being an accurate reflection <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>value <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ads.• Many efforts to get readers to pay for content have been fitful, poorlyexecuted and motivated more by ideology than economics. Only a fewpublications have had a successful, long-term plan to get readers to pay, andeven fewer have done it in a way that genuinely increases online revenuera<strong>the</strong>r than simply protects <strong>the</strong>ir traditional businesses. Was free content journalism’s“original sin”? 13 Perhaps, for news organizations must now ask readersto start paying for material that has been free for 15 years. Meanwhile,pay-per-article schemes, such as <strong>the</strong> one proposed in a 2009 Time coverstory by Walter Isaacson, haven’t caught on for journalism. 14 Unlike Beatlessongs, news stories have little lasting value beyond a single use.18
Change language