Dive summary:
- Publishers look to alternative means to bring in revenue as the traditional advertising and subscriptions slow down; these four options are leading the pack. [see full list at Digiday]
- The partial paywall, asking users to pay a subscription if they exceed a set number of articles, is one option that has worked for publishers; the New York Times has found success with this model by requiring users to pay for a subscription after viewing 10 articles for free.
- Events are popular among business publications Forbes, Fortune, and BusinessWeek; the publishers get executives to pay large conference fees to help pad revenue.
From the article:
"In digital media, most publishers made a fateful choice, throwing their lots in with the “free” movement and relying solely on advertising. That didn’t work out so hot, mostly because there’s no scarcity in digital media and finding specific audiences is fairly simple. That means clawing back revenue through subscriptions or introducing new, often subtle ways of reaching for loose advertising dollars — like in-image advertising, programmatic buying, e-books, etc."
