Long weekends are always good for catching up on important reading. For example, this long New York Times article (epic by online standards) gives great insight into how some entrepreneurial news outlets are making it in the New World Order. Websites such as True/Slant and Examiner turn a buck by maintaining low overhead, basing their writers’ wages on page views and thus advertising revenue.
It’s a kicker for the online news environment to rely on this same tired, old business model that has newspapers circling the drain: a nearly complete reliance on ad sales to keep business going. In the print world, selling ads meant generating fluff stories that appealed to readers. Online, it means keeping tabs on Twitter’s trending topics — prepubescent pop star Justin Bieber seems to be the shit these days — and then cranking out fluff copy on those subjects to woo Google and other search bots.
Despite inflated page views and low overhead, True/Slant and Examiner have yet to turn a profit. It’s pathetic. PAH-thetic.
Of course, some hyperlocal news sites have done well for themselves strictly through ad sales. The hyperlocal economies of those beats are healthy enough to support such publications and their writers, so if the business model ain’t broke, then don’t fix it.
But what if this Great Recession treats the economy to a summer sequel? Or what if (for whatever reason) page views don’t translate to ad sales? Even worse, what if the quality of reporting suffers because writers can’t or don’t get paid? Then it’s time to have an alternate revenue stream ready, if it isn’t already up and running.
The New World Order demands innovative strategies for generating revenue, and I don’t just mean psyching out the search engines to drive page views. It means hosting events with cover charges, offering web-design services, selling stock photography, and forming Groupon-like arrangements with local businesses to sell products beyond news. It might also mean converting a for-profit project into a nonprofit one to bring in donations, or charging subscription fees for premium content.
It should not mean fluff content cranked out by pay-per-click writers. If a hyperlocal news site’s business model supports nothing but that, then it’s working either the wrong model or the wrong business. Innovative and diversified revenue streams beget better pay, better writers and less Bieber.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user Daniel Ogren.
