Funding the News: Current Business Models
摘要
Digital technology not only lowered production and distribution costs for news media but fundamentally altered advertising markets. News was highly dependent on display advertising but now faces fierce competition with other online platforms and content providers, resulting in a steep decline in advertising revenues. This has presented an ongoing challenge for journalism as news companies search for new sustainable business models in a crowded marketplace, where journalism competes for finite audience attention in a high-choice information environment. This chapter highlights that there is no single solution to fixing the economic woes facing the news media. Instead, it presents case studies that underscore the need for hybrid approaches to funding journalism depending on the intended audience and wider policy. These examples highlight the different business models that have traditionally funded the commercial production of news, as well as more recent models that have become popular in an era of digitisation. Display advertising, subscription, sponsored content, financial deals with tech companies, and government funding models are examined within the context of audiences’ news preferences and willingness to pay, and the opportunities and threats each model is susceptible to in the broader commercial and societal environment.