Worldwide, media companies are embracing new digital opportunities trying to find strategies that will enable them to become profitable. If the production and distribution of digital journalism is now well established, the question of how to make money with it in this digital age is still unanswered. So far, no model has proved to be the “savior” of journalism but experiments to find a sustainable business model go on unceasingly. From paywalls and crowdfunding campaign to membership or subscriptions only models, traditional media companies and digital newcomers have been exploring different models, with varying degrees of success.
Nicco Mele, a former senior vice president and deputy publisher of the Los Angeles Times – known as an innovator in technology and politics – discussed the future of various journalism business models during a talk he gave last February at the Harvard Kennedy School. He noted that newer entrants such as Buzzfeed, Vox and Vice rely heavily on venture capital and said that: “None of them is yet a true public company with a clear sense of what its revenue equation looks like.” According to him, if philanthropic and government funding would be an option, the importance for news outlets to remain financially independent from large institutions is not questionable and it is clear “that diversity in revenue streams will be an essential part of the future.”
Successful investigative news sites
This digitization of the news sector is forcing traditional media companies to reinvent themselves, while bringing them down off their pedestal. It also gives rise to technological tools and spaces for new form of journalism. Furthermore, this period, full of uncertainties, is a chance for the profession to redefine itself and to (re)create a relationship with audiences.
Promisingly, some investigative new sites, that have been launched worldwide, encountered large support from citizens. The International Journalist’s Network highlights the fact that, when talking about investigative news sites, there is a certain number of loyal users who identify strongly with the brand and who are willing to pay for the content: “Many publishers of high-quality accountability journalism — also called investigative or watchdog journalism — are attracting significant revenue from a strong relationship with their users.” For instance, Publishers in the U.S. like Texas Tribune and MinnPost are not selling anything to sponsors or advertisers but chose to be part of a community with a shared interest and with the public good in mind. They talk about their readers – who financially support them – as “members” or “partners” rather than as “subscribers”.
Among the different examples that can be found across the world are:
- Mediapart, a French online and independent journal
Launched in 2008 by – among others – Edwy Plenel (former executive editor of Le Monde), its intent is to provide independent journalism with a strong emphasis on investigative stories along with scoops on politics and economics. Mediapart, which also publishes articles in Spanish in English, became internationally popular in 2009, when it released the first secret tape recordings that stirred up the Bettencourt-Woerth scandal. Among the other French political earthquakes associated with Mediapart’s work, are also the Sarkozy-Kadhafi case or the Cahuzac Affair.
Since the beginning, Mediapart adopted a radical business model without advertising at all and with most stories protected by a paywall through a subscription model (11 euros/months or 110 euros/year); a model seen as the only way to guarantee a journalistic and editorial independence. The website constitutes of two main parts: the “Journal” and the “Club”, where articles written by subscribers are publicly available. Based on a strongly participative model, Mediapart brings together articles from the editorial board and readers’ contributions. In participative editions or through personal blogs, readers have the freedom and the opportunity to create the debate, to animate and to organize it.
As can be read in a report published on March 2016: “In 2015, the number of individual and group subscribers to Mediapart, who value the independence of their journal of reference, reached 118,000. Last year witnessed strong growth in every domain: growth in turnover (+19%, with total operating revenue of more than 10 million euros), growth in earnings, and the strengthening of the editorial team and operational services, with a total staff now of 65.” Currently, Mediapart is one of the few French pure play news companies that can be considered sustainable, despite its long-running dispute with the French government over the VAT rate it should be paying.
- The Dutch journalism platform De Correspondent
“Most online media outlets make money from selling ads. In general, the more traffic they have, the more ads they sell. Thus, the task of most online journalists is to generate traffic. In their quest for more page views, journalists are desperate for juicy stories. With our Dutch journalism platform De Correspondent we wanted to escape this dangerous dynamic”
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, co-founder and publisher of De Correspondent.
Launched in 2013 after a successful crowdfunding campaign (over a million euro from 15,000 donors was raised in just eight days), the aim of the publication is to focus on background, analysis and investigative reporting. In order to be an independent outlet, reader subscription fees and subsidies are the only sources of income. The site is free of advertising and there is no investment capital. De Correspondent currently has 47,000 paying members (who annual pay subscriptions of US$66) and an editorial staff of 30 people. Here also, the involvement of the readership is crucial and constitutes one of the core values of the media outlet; as it can be read on its website: “a one-way, producer-consumer relationship between a news medium and its readership is a thing of the past. While vigilant about its editorial independence, The Correspondent believes that active reader involvement is crucial for a healthy, thriving platform and sound journalism.”
- Malaysiakini, the news platform that uses internet to get around media control in Malaysia
Founded in 1999 by two journalists, Steven Gan and Premesh Chandran, this Malaysian online news platform is now published in English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil, reaching over 2.5 million readers every month. As written on its website: “Editorial independence is the fruit of financial independence. By paying for content, news readers help maintain the focus on quality news. It is a small investment towards an informed society, as well as an accountable government.” Malaysiakini, which was based on a free platform model, attracting a growing audience until the early 2000s, shifted to subscriber fees and dual revenue streams from advertisers and readers. Although it is published in four languages, only the English version is behind a paywall. In 2014, Malaysiakini counted more than 16,000 subscriptions at about US$40 each annually.
As explained on its website, in Malaysia traditional media are closely monitored by the government while online media are not subject to the same licensing, allowing more diversity (even if they are still subject to laws that restrict freedom of speech).
In a country with internet penetration of 67 percent, the success of Malaysiakini is twofold: “First it has increased demand for reliable and independent news, along with support with human rights, open government, and free expression; second, it has built a viable business model that enables it to employ about 40 reporters, publish in four language, and expand into video products and business news,” wrote Tim Carrington, in a report for the center for international media assistance (CIMA).
Among the other digital investigative website that exist, is the Spanish Eldiario.es. Founded in 2012, it’s 2015 revenues added up to US$2.6 million, up 33 percent on the year, and a profit after taxes of US$235,000. Examples such as MediaPart, The Correspondent or Eldiario show that investigative journalism sites can generate significant revenue from a small number of users and still have a huge impact. In the case of Malaysiakini’s success, it is interesting to highlight the potential for sustainable online journalism in countries that restrict and control traditional media companies, but have more liberal policies regarding the internet.
Is it the end of the clickbait?
Promisingly, some publishers are moving away from clickbait articles and its sensational headlines and are starting to change their readership’s conception. Readers are, indeed, more and more seen as partners rather than as simple subscribers from whom money can be extracted. The relationship with the audience is now taking into account and valorized. For instance, PandoDaily, a technology and startup investigative news site, has recently moved to a subscription service, purportedly to maintain editorial integrity and become less reliant on advertising and sponsorship: “It was from that starting point – that we should work, first and foremost, for readers not advertisers – that we began considering how Pando should evolve.”
Only the future will tell which model is the most sustainable and for whom. For now, the public and publishers alongside with foundations, institutions and governments are negotiating the kind of journalism they want and the price they are willing to pay for it.