Chasing Sustainability on the Net : International research on 69 journalistic pure players and their business models

novembre 1, 2012 alle 12:39 pm | Pubblicato in Il nuovo mondo | 3 commenti

Here’s the final report of SubMoJour research project, a joint project with University of Tampere, USC Annenberg and Waseda University - I have authored the chapter on Italy.

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The report outlines how online-based journalistic startups have created their economical locker in the evolving media ecology. The research introduces the ways that startups have found sustainability in the markets of nine countries. The work is based on 69 case studies from Europe, USA and Japan.

The case analysis shows that business models can be divided into two groups. The storytelling-oriented business models are still prevalent in our findings. These are the online journalistic outlets that produce original content – news and stories for audiences. But the other group, service-oriented business models, seems to be growing. This group consists of sites that don’t try to monetize the journalistic content as such but rather focuson carving out new functionality.

The project was able to identify several revenue sources: advertising, paying for content, affiliate marketing, donations, selling data or services, organizing events, freelancing and training or selling merchandise. Where itwas hard to evidence entirely new revenue sources, it was however possible to find new ways in which revenue sources have been combined or reconfigured. The report also offers practical advice for those who are planning to start their own journalistic site.

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