Feb 4, 2021Sustainable Business Models in Journalism 2.0It is fast approaching ten years since we authored the SuBMoJour database and we are actively seeking funding to carry out a longitudinal review of the cases we presented — and an update of what business models in the long tail look like The report is still available to download…Business Model4 min readBusiness Model4 min read
Nov 11, 2020Innovating the business model of hyperlocal news: Nub News in focusThere’s an acute challenge for hyperlocal news. Local businesses are perfectly adept at connecting with their own audiences on major platforms. They rely on Facebook, Instagram and Google for their distribution, making the local rag redundant. There’s also the issue of scale. …Hyperlocal2 min readHyperlocal2 min read
Jun 23, 2020Will people pay for independent local and community news?Cornwall Reports has been behind a hard paywall since it launched in 2016. It has 600 subscribers mostly paying £30. …Micropayments3 min readMicropayments3 min read
Jun 23, 2020UK independents and hyperlocals: expect to earn £14-£19k a yearSince benchmark data was gathered by academics in 2014 on annual income for independent and hyperlocal media in the UK, I’ve been keeping a close eye on what are realistic returns. Most are one-man bands or small teams, operating on self-service platforms such as Wordpress complemented with social media. With…Journalism2 min readJournalism2 min read
Jun 18, 2020Hyperlocals remain an undervalued part of the UK news supply chainWe have been working on a project called Ping! Trends which is a collaboration between the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and Omni Digital in Bristol. The aim of the project is to bring specifically tagged and themed hyperlocal journalist’s stories together to offer more opportunities to generate revenue…Revenue Model9 min readRevenue Model9 min read
Jun 18, 2020Innovating journalism revenues using a new 100 day methodologyDecision making is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to web-indigenous revenue models. What should we try? Should we do a membership model? Shall we do events? These are all questions I get asked by independent and community media on a regular basis. …Business Models7 min readBusiness Models7 min read
Jun 18, 2020Re-modelling journalism revenues in BelarusMedia executives in Belarus championing independent and web-indigenous journalism are faced with added challenges to the online revenue model. Not only do they need to combat squeezed ad revenues from dominant social media platforms but they exist in a weakened political economic market. …Belarus4 min readBelarus4 min read
Oct 31, 2019Why are we talking about reader revenues — and what you need to knowThe limitations of indirect funding models via advertising and transaction based funding models for journalism are shifting focus to extend audience engagement and trust with an associated commitment of financial support. In 2013 — local news paywalls were a total disaster so what has changed in six years? Reader revenues…Journalism20 min readJournalism20 min read
Oct 22, 2019Developing a new methodology for reader revenues in journalismI am keen to help independent journalism outlets optimise their revenue diversification strategies. A focussed portfolio of revenue streams is a critical part of that. Knowing that for community-driven news organisations, reader revenue is an increasingly popular business strategy I have been developing a new methodology to better understand and…Journalism2 min readJournalism2 min read
Oct 18, 2019When the goal is not to scale: How can civic and community media be more resilient?Alongside Dr Rob Watson and Dr Jennifer Jones we have been working with Internews Europe to develop a Strategy for Resilient Local, Civic and Community Media. The overarching question is how can we can best support and build a resilient set of networks that can sustain, advocate and demonstrate the…Journalism4 min readJournalism4 min read