#editors13: Eight revenue-generating ideas for news outlets

With advertising spend dramatically reduced – newspaper ad revenues is down 22 per cent globally since 2008, according to a report published yesterday – the future is not in banners and buttons, David Rowan, editor of Wired UK told the World Editors Forum in Bangkok today. And Rowan did not discuss paywalls as a solution for funding news.

He said there is an important role for news publishers, "but we need to find new sources of funds".

Rowan said as news businesses "we need to change our mindsets", arguing that mobile is key due to the rise of smartphones and mobile. "You must put mobile internet at the heart of your strategy," he said.

“Mobile is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he added, as people are changing their reading behaviour, checking mobiles up to 150 times a day. "And that is time they are not spending reading your newspaper or magazine," he said.

A key question for media companies to to address is "where are you adding value?" The answers may include trust, expertise, curation and depth. So how do we turn these traits into revenue potential?

He shared ideas and examples inspired by entrepreneurs, start-ups and innovators.

1. Commerce

Get people to buy things, urged Rowan. He gave the example of news sites offering a 'deal of the day'. He also mentioned Stripe, a tool to make it easier for people to make payments for such offers.

2. Events

Create events, he suggested. Wired creates for-profit events, which have become a "significant revenue stream".

3. Consulting

Wired has also added a consulting revenue stream, "telling stories in a corporate setting". Wired UK helps businesses and brands put on events, for example. "People are more willing to pay for something that’s scarce,” he said.

4. Colleges

Conde Nast, which publishes Wired (as well as Vogue), has opened a fashion and design college in New York, drawing on the title's expertise and contacts.

5. Community funding

Rowan outlined examples of news projects that have attracted crowdfunding from sites like Kickstarter. He mentioned Tomorrow Magazine and Brain Pickings.

6. Creative agencies

Axel Springer, a large European media company, has set up a creative agency, as has France's Le Monde, Rowan explained. Telegraph Create, set up by the UK news title, carried out a brand project for Sainsburys, for example.

7. Cruises

The Daily Mail realised it was selling cruises on behalf of several companies, so it cut out the middle man and now sells its own cruises, Rowan said.

8. Innovation heads

Several companies, including DMGT, which owns the Daily Mail, have programmes which reward staff who come up with new revenue-generating ideas.

Rowan also shared four examples of newsroom innovation:

• Snow Fall, The New York Times – A17,000 word multimedia story. He said other outlets may not have the budget of the Times, "but need to learn own solutions".
• Truth Teller, Washington Post – A application for fact checking video and audio of political speeches and interviews in near real-time.
• Street Quality Grades, LA Times – A project which used the crowd to asses the quality of local roads
• Homicide Watch – A local US site which tracks every homicide in Washington DC.

Move fast and iterate, urged Rowan. And lose the sense of embarrassment around failure. Businesses pivot, they don’t fail, he said. His advice is to think globally, think like a startup, expect disruption, to use the crowd and to take risks.

Journalism.co.uk is in Bangkok for the World Editors Forum. Follow@SarahMarshall3, @JohnCThompson and #editors13 for updates.

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