The online news industry is mired in a thorny debate. What is better: to continue to offer free content supported by advertising? Or to charge consumers a fee to see the content that we pay to produce? Or something in between?
There are no easy answers. The online media industry has yet to come up with a revenue model that works well and produces significant profits for everyone who tries it. With a few exceptions, most Internet news enterprises operate at a loss, or produce a modest profit. We as an industry still seek the Holy Grail. Some in the profession think that charging for content may be it.
If you seek the ultimate answer, you won't find it here. But what we can offer is an examination of revenue models that are being tried in the online news industry.
Each model has its pros and cons. Read through this report and it should help you come to some conclusions about what's right for your online news operation. It might be one of the models presented here. It might be a combination of two or more.
Click the links below to learn more about the various models.
Included on each business model description page is an opinion/analysis from Rusty Coats, director of new media for MORI Research. Coats leads that firm's interactive media consulting and research, and regularly consults and speaks on the topic of online news revenue models. He can be reached at rusty_coats@moriresearch.com.
