Posts Tagged ‘paid content’
Hot topics for media owners in 2009
Monday, December 21st, 2009What were the hot topics for media businesses in 2009? What provoked discussion and debate? Based on the stats from my own Penmaen Media blog, looking at both the number of views and the time spent on each article over the last year, some clear trends emerge. I’ve summarised the top 5 topics, and included links to the most-read articles: (more…)
Tags: communities, events, hot topics, media owners, most-read articles 2009, paid content, Penmaen Media, sponsorship, subscriptions, video
Posted in advertising, b2b, business strategy, consumer, content, events, marketing
E-reader options for specialist media owners
Sunday, September 27th, 2009E-readers are already beginning to make waves in the book publishing market, but when and how might they be relevant for specialist media owners? There are a bewildering range of devices on the way; but how can a media owner decide which to support and how to manage their content? Last week I met Dominic Jacquesson, former COO of Electric Word and now an e-reader guru, to find out what specialist media owners need to be considering now. Here’s some top tips, but keep track of Dominic’s blog www.inkondeadtrees.com for more insight. (more…)
Tags: Add new tag, aggregators, Dominic Jacquesson, e-readers, Inter-read, Kindle, Olive, paid content, Plastic logic, Sony, Zinio
Posted in b2b, business strategy, consumer, content
First signs of successful online content subscriptions
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009The paid content debate has been raging for months in something of a vacuum of facts, but today three news items made me think that the future is more likely to be about regular subscriptions for the hard-core rather than a series of micropayments for individual pieces of content. See my earlier post on opportunities for niche online paid content for some tips for publishers considering this move. (more…)
Tags: Athletics Weekly, online subscriptions, paid content, Racing Post, Spectator
Posted in consumer, content
Opportunities for niche online paid content
Sunday, August 23rd, 2009Many media owners who have put all their content online for free are now wrestling with the dilemma of how to encourage their users to pay for online content. My belief is that consumers won’t pay for general news, however cleverly packaged, as there are just too many alternative sources for free. Much is made of the FT’s subscriptions model, but they are almost playing in a business to business market, where there is an expectation of paying for content. So are there any opportunities where consumer-facing online publishers can charge for content? I think there is more mileage in niche topics - where a media owner has exclusive content, and a targeted audience find the information highly relevant and hard to replicate. Even with the explosion in user reviews, there are still some areas where an expert view or recommendation has more weight and authority than the anonymous poster. So here are 5 tips for media owners to decide whether a niche is worth testing for paid content: (more…)
Tags: ebooks, membership propositions, niche paid content, paid content, subscriptions
Posted in consumer, content
Future business models for media and content
Thursday, June 25th, 2009I’m contributing to the Media Futures conference next Friday as part of a discussion on future business models for media and content. This post sets out some of the ideas I will be exploring in more detail at the conference.
The “old media” business model
This was based on clear distinctions between platforms - print, TV, radio - each of which required scale to manage the means of production and distribution. Licensing in broadcast further raised entry barriers. Media businesses controlled access to consumers and charged advertisers a premium. Consumers relied on media brands to edit choice, and paid a premium for the privilege. Media businesses were mini-monopolies, could dictate cover price and ad rates, and reinvested their profits into quality editorial. The benefits of scale (print, production, newstrade negotiations…) encouraged acquisition of independents into large media groups - Emap famously did this in magazines and also radio; Newsquest and Johnston Press in regional papers. (more…)
Tags: archive content, consolidation, media business model, media futures conference, niche information businesses, old media, online subscriptions, paid content, Penmaen Media, specialist publishers, syndication
Posted in b2b, business strategy, consumer, content, opinions