Tomorrow's News, Tomorrow's Journalists

Three ways media organisations can make money from online

It’s a very interesting question we’ve been asked to cover in this month’s topic, and not least because it’s one the entire industry is trying to get its head around. There’s a lot of talk about pay walls and how they will work, back in December I wrote about how if news organisations are going to use pay walls they need to do them properly – and invest in technology that will actually help them to work (if they do work).

But away from the pay walls, how can money be made online out of the Generation Y’s who like browsing around in their spare time? There’s three ways media organisations can make money from online. The first is mass audience, the second is niche content and the third is location.

Mass audience

Traffic. Traffic. Traffic. Some advertisers are only interested in the big numbers. They are the ones trying to build a brand and gain recognition. They want the pre-roll ads on the videos, the skyscrapers down half the damn site. They just want their name out there. Media organisations need to work to deliver big traffic to their sites through unique content, good stories and building loyal readerships. The same way they need to build readerships for their print products to prove they’ve got the reach to their advertisers.

Niche content

We’re in a world where niche interests can be satisfied like never before. Into rock climbing? You can join a club, get an app for that and join an online rock climbing network and share your tips with other rock climbers. The world is becoming more and more niche. This also means advertising is starting to splinter and get more accustomed to niche. Look at the rise of the middle-class white male cyclist, chances are he’s going to have some cash to splash on stuff and is interested in any stories involving roads, cycling, cycling championships, Tour de France etc. Media organisations need to be aware of their niches, and build on them. Build ‘clubs’ around your content, build a readership that comes back to that specific landing page and is pushed to return by interaction through email newsletters, twitter feeds, facebook fan pages and more. Maybe even use some offline marketing to get these people together for an event? Like a debate on cycling rules if we use the cycling analogy.

Location

Media organisations have always sold by location. Different editions of print products, different radio stations for different regions. Online is no different, people will always be interested in the area they are living in or from. I still glance at the pages of the Lancashire Evening Post website because I used to live in Preston. Build location-based content and you’ll build a local audience, and with online it’s a lot easier to track the location of these readers and what they like/don’t like.

If media organisations can satisfy these three targets they’ll have happy readers and happy advertisers. Get those two things and you’ll see higher revenues and potentially some happier journalists.

And a final thought, whatever happened with Johnston Press’ plans to charge for access to titles in the North East? I never heard a peep about it after it was announced.

Ed Walker works as a journalist for Media Wales, part of the Trinity Mirror group. He also owns the community news website Blog Preston, blogs at edwalker.net and is on Twitter @ed_walker86