News media business has to change tack and look at earning significant revenue from readers’ subscription and digital medium than through advertisements at a time when print media circulation was growing at a nominal rate.
This was the message from editors and publishers who shared their insights and experiences at the conference of World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers or WAN-IFRA-2018.
Whether it was Juan Senor, President of Innovation Media Consulting, U.K., or Fredric Karen, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Svenska Dagbladt, Sweden, the emphasis was on making content the king that compels the readers to pay on digital platform or for print format.
Leveraging the brand
Good journalism makes good business and traditional news media houses should leverage their brand to get onto the digital platforms, invest in technology and revisit their business models, was the common message.
Mr. Senor called for innovation on part of news media houses to leverage their brand online and start the subscription mode for readers to access trustworthy and well-researched content at a time when fake news was becoming a menace. He suggested 11 new innovative business models of which at least three, like increasing reader revenue, should be adopted to turn the fortunes around. He shared the experience of a Swedish-based newspaper which had turned around its fortunes by investing in technology and building a robust digital platform for their news content. As it focused on improving content, advertising revenue grew online along with readers’ subscriptions.
Mr. Karen’s paper hired developers to develop algorithms managed by artificial intelligence to decide which story should go on first page based on the traction generated. News editor would rate stories based on news value and relevance, while technology helps reporters embellish stories and decide which stories need to be put behind paid firewalls based on traction.
