Hunting the elusive online business model in news

Professor George Brock

Head of JournalismCity University London

Zeitung Online 2010 - BDZV/WAN-IFRADusseldorf, June 2010

Health warning on this packet

•Much of what I will say is “obvious”• There is a lot that I don’t know• Imagine that you are in Mainz,

1458….

Online is not print• The flaw in the advertising-led model• We don’t know what will happen to

the “bundle”• Transmission of all information is

changed• Mobiles, not PCs• Defend words, not machinery

Business models• They don’t arrive on schedule (“show me a

newspaper website that makes money”)• What works in practice may not work in

theory: www.naseadresa.cz• Fire market researchers: hire anthropologists• Ugly truth: it starts with content• Media and news are different

Journalism’s “crisis”• Decline (in UK & US at least) is in income for –Printed daily news (worse for regionals)–Terrestrial broadcast news + current affairs

• Demand for news is not an issue; print cost base is.

• If anybody can publish, what defines a journalist?

• The definition of engagement has changed

Paywalls• Everyone is thinking; everyone is waiting. • Note that NewsCorp is experimenting• Challenges for The Times/Sunday Times• Creating a club

(http://www.timesplus.co.uk/welcome/index.htm)• The key is links, not money• If content is king, collaboration is queen• Are your inventors looking for the 3rd way?• Public broadcasters will gain share

Don’t…• Confuse platforms with content• Assume that you’ve got captive

audiences (they’ve escaped).• Lay big, expensive plans• Get addicted to cutting costs• Blame Google and Facebook

Do…• THROW SPAGHETTI!• This is the moment for the crazies• Start with engagement (Twitter’s USP)• Remember that flexible agility is all• Watch how real people use devices• Worry about copywright

A few hints• Use the data mountains that you have• Topic pages• Train people for the data mountains to come• Watch for the marriage between mobiles and

the internet (e.g. www.ushahidi.com)• Encourage journalists to define their

distinctive work: verification, sense-making, eyewitness, investigation.

iPad = white knight?• Who wrote the iPad’s most popular paid

app?• Apps aren’t by print designers• Watch the devices evolve • No…bookmarking, linking, full text search• No good for blogging• Apple wants us to be an audience again

iPad Pulse readerhttp://nyti.ms/9gmCk9

Mobile/wireless• Content wasn’t king: the networks were in

charge• Struggle between open and closed systems• Video slowed by: technical incompatibility and

copywright• Think long: make your promise of value

something that is hard to replicate• The demand of the future will be for signals in

the noise.

The takeaway• Compelling content is not made from

the conclusions of market research but from what people need, feel and do.• News content of quality will be the

best values of print journalism made real in new communications media.

One last hint• Please read

www.georgebrock.net