New models on generating revenue from losing newspapers


I read an article about how a group of US newspapers plan to respond to failing revenue.

1st : considered a “presentation on technology/service to track content on the Web and to extract payments from third-parties and ad networks that have appropriated newspaper content.” If other online formats are stealing your copyrighted content, make them pay for it.

2nd Collecting enhanced online newspaper user data across newspaper properties and mining that data to aggressively sell target content to specific audience segments across the network.”

The core tech are tracking content (1st model) or user behavior (2nd model). But it is not technology that matters. It is the law that gives the newspaper to charge or sell these data that affect its success. The copyright law enforcement is tooooo expensive compare to maybe HKD 10 for a single reference. Privacy law is too restrictive for newpapers to sell their DB.

My personal opinion is that the current legal infrastructure prohibit QUALITY newpapers to profit. Internet enables instant, multi-media and around the clock FACTs reporting. But QUALITY news report need more than FACTs.

Bloomberg and Reuters are the only successful company as I see it.

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