Innovative Business Models For News Media
Written by: Rashmi
In an age where every traditional news media house is going through a digital overhaul, there is no one-right business model that they can adopt. But one thing is clear. Instead of relying on a traditional business model, news media must shift to innovative business models.
An innovative business model with multiple revenue streams mitigates the risk of diminishing profit. Thankfully, the digital revolution makes it possible to have such a business model.
Down below, you can find different examples of innovative business models that you can adopt to make your news business survive and thrive.
Reader-oriented Business Models
The Subscription Model:
Putting your content behind a paywall and then making the reader subscribe to read the news is the most talked-about business model these days. The best part about this model is that it doesn’t meddle with the editorial part of your news business, and it helps you create a direct relation with your reader.
The Membership Model:
The membership model is somewhat similar to the subscription model as it also includes readers to make direct payments to your news business. The main difference is that the membership model is more focused on creating a community of readers instead of just putting out regular content, i.e., news.
Micro-payments:
Readers tend not to take more than two to three subscriptions for a particular service (which is news in our case). So, instead of making the readers pay a large sum as a subscription fee or membership fee, you can ask for micro-payments just for reading one article. Since this includes only small payments, it is more apt as an additional revenue stream than a fully-fledged business model.
Advertisement-dependent Business Models
Programmatic Advertisement:
Instead of dealing with advertisers and then putting up ads manually, you can just join a digital advertisement program and leave the rest to the third party. The only downside of this model is that the middle-man takes a large chunk of the ad revenue.
Native Advertisement:
Native advertisements use contextual ads to fight advertising fatigue. The ads look like a part of the main content, and hence the readers are more likely to see those ads and click on them.
Sponsored Posts:
Just like native ads, sponsored posts also fight advertisement fatigue. The main difference between the two is that instead of just using a little space as an ad banner, sponsored ads use the whole content piece. The advertisement looks like a news piece with a disclaimer that it is sponsored.
Miscellaneous Business Models
Selling Digital Tickets:
News persons are known for their connections with politicians, film stars, public intellectuals, and whatnot. Now, news media have found a way to leverage their connections by hosting an event with celebrities and selling tickets for such events. If organizing an event sounds like too much of a hassle to you, you can host digital events and sell tickets online.
Affiliate Marketing:
You are probably already putting outbound links in your news pieces. So, why not use these outbound links to earn some revenue? If your news business review or mentions products regularly, you can put affiliate links in your content and get additional revenue with that.
Crowdfunding:
News media is not considered an optional but a vital part of society. For the same reason, a large number of people are willing to donate money to news publishers who create valuable content. You can either get donations by creating a ‘Support Us’ section on your website or through a crowdfunding platform.
There are no hard and fast lines that separate one business model from another. You have to keep your mind open to new ideas and might have to merge multiple business models to get the perfect mix.
No matter what type of business model you choose, you have to regularly publish high-quality news pieces. Quintype offers a complete suite of digital publishing solutions like CMS, audience engagement tools, content monetization platforms, etc to help you ease that process.