Includes comparative data from 2008 & 9 audits of the online revenue models of the companion websites to the largest newspapers in Britain's 66 cities. Presented in the 'New Platforms- New Revenues' session of the Society of Editors (UK) 'the Fightback' conference, 16 November 2009, in Stansted. - also see: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512781003642964

1. Where else is the money? Notes from a study into innovation of online business models at newspapers in Britain’s 66 cities François Nel Director: Journalism Leaders Programme School of Journalism, Media & Communication University of Central Lancashire, Preston FPNel@uclan.ac.uk

2. theagenda 2 1. What we found in our research 2. What (I think) it means 3. Where I think the opportunities lie 4. Questions – and contributions

3. the research Chaharbaghi, K., Fendt,C. and Willis, R. (2003). "Meaning, Legitimacy and Impact of Business Models in fast-moving Environments." Management Decision 41(4): 372-382. 3

4. vanguard 4 old guard vanguard

5. The old media world has ended – and the sooner we say so the better. With it must go old thinking… My main message today is: we need to break out of this thinking and we can – but only if we look beyond our own backyards and see the bigger picture. Andy Burnham, then Culture Secretary 5

6. the old media world the new media world Web 1.0 News as lecture Broadcast model Cyclists Advertising Web 2.0 News as conversation Dialogical model Structuralists Beyond advertising 6

7. Bath Birmingham Bradford Brighton Bristol Cambridge Canterbury Carlisle Chester Chichester Coventry Derby Durham Ely Exeter Gloucester Hereford Hull Lancaster Leeds Leicester Lichfield Lincoln Liverpool London Manchester Newcastle Norwich Nottingham Oxford Peterborough Plymouth Portsmouth Preston Ripon Salford Salisbury Sheffield Southampton St Albans Stoke Sunderland Truro Wakefield Wells Westminster Winchester Wolverhampton Worcester York Aberdeen Dundee Edinburgh Glasgow Inverness Stirling Bangor Cardiff Newport St Davids Swansea Armagh Belfast Lisburn Derry Newry Notes on the sample Audited companion websites to the largest circulation newspapers in Britain’s 66 cities during summers of 2008 & 2009 7

8. Research Questions RQ1: What revenue streams are featured on the companion websites of regional newspapers? RQ2: Which online business models are the regional publishers not engaging in? RQ3: To what extent could these activities be considered to reflect ‘new thinking’ about business models on the Web? 8

9. As the research aimed not only to identify the online business models the news publishers were employing but also to note areas that remained unexplored, it was decided to reference the taxonomy of general online business models identified by Michael Rappa(2001), who observed 41 distinct configurations of value streams, logistical streams and revenue streams that he grouped into nine categories: Advertising, Brokerage, Infomediary, Merchant, Manufacturing, Affiliate, Community, Subscription and Utility. Mindful of Rappa’s (2000) point that the Internet continues to evolve and that “new and interesting” variation can be expected in the future, the researchers were guided, but not limited to, Rappa’s models. The data was collected between the 28th July and the 31st August 2008 by two coders. The findings were compared and any variances were investigated and resolved. The findings were analysed using simple descriptive statistics; as the number of sites studied was small and the sample was not random, more sophisticated statistical measurements were not viable here. 9 More notes on method

10. 10 Advertisingmodel1

11. 11 Advertisingmodel2

12. Subscriptionmodel 12

13. Infomediarymodel 13

14. 14

15. Merchant & Affiliates 15

16. Brokeragemodel ? 16

17. Manufacturingmodel 17

18. In 2009, 15 or 23% had mobile sites (.mobi or m.) Of those sites, 0 carried display advertising and 2 had sponsorship There were no adverts in the mobile alerts offered. 38 or 58% had Twitter sites 18 Manufacturing mobile

19. Communitymodel 19

20. 20 Communitymodel

21. 21 So, where else is the money?

22. 22 There's not enough advertising in the world to make all the websites profitable. We'd rather have fewer people come to our website, but paying.

23. 23 NS Circulation Sales

24. 24 Talk about “paywalls” around content limits the conversation Consider: reciprocity* and how value is exchanged for a variety of activities *Claude Lèvi-Strauss 1969. The Elementary Structures of Kinship.

25. Opportunities 1: Manufacturing All the publishers had expanded their online content into areas not available in print, but there were no discernable revenue models to sustain these activities, beyond driving traffic to the host site where it could possibly contribute to increases in general advertising revenues. Limited involvement on mobile platforms, which has also been considered an area with significant revenue potential for content makers. Inventory of brand-integrated content was also very limited. 25

26. O3: Networks Networks, considered by some (Niewiarra 2002 in Krueger & Swatman 2004) to be keys to success in content distribution, is another area that may provide publishers which further revenue opportunities. Again, while site audits alone are not sufficient to discern the logistics chains behind the content, it was clear that some, but not all, publishers were engaged in a variety of advertising networks that leveraged resources within companies (e.g. Johnston Press’ PropertiesToday), across publishing companies (e.g. Fish4) and with non-publishing companies (e.g. Echo Outdoor). Most publishers were also building internal content networks that drew in traditional sources and formerly-passive readers through activities such as blogs. Some were also building links with outside content networks (e.g. netmums.co.uk). There was, however, no evidence found that these networks were providing unique value propositions that could allow them to be sustained by revenue streams, other than advertising (i.e. through sales, subscriptions, membership or donations). 26

27. O2: Networks 27

28. 28

29. 29 < 200 + regional papers

30. Locally Connected, the UK's first integrated print and online planning currency, launches on 24 November. The launch follows the completion of a three-way project between the regional publishers' trade body, the Newspaper Society, with JICREG, the Joint Industry Committee for Regional Press Research, & the ABC. The planning currency uses a combination of ABC print circulation and ABCe web traffic data, plus research conducted by Survey Interactive to give the net reach of online & offline titles. Publishers on board are Trinity Mirror, Northcliffe Media, Newsquest, GMG Regional, Iliffe News & Media and the Midlands News Association. The Newspaper Society hopes all publishers will be involved in future. The planning currency will be used by the vast majority of media agencies at launch and includes 70% of the local media market. www.locallyconnected.co.uk http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/948279/UKs-first-print-online-planning-tool-set-launch/

31. 31 25% revenue share

33. O2: Intermediary While publishers were expanding their activities as intermediaries into a range of partnerships (such as dating sites), there is still limited involvement in e-commerce / retail and one related area identified by Rappa (2001) seemed unexplored: the broker model 33

36. Newspaper Society: Retail income 36

38. This equates to £215 for every person in the UK, but represents a slowdown compared with the 54% year-on-year increase in 2007.

39. Online retail sales in the UK are predicted to reach £44.9bn in 2012, up from £19.5bn in 2008. [Source: Verdict Research via eMarketer, Sept 2008]

40. More than 85% of the world's internet users surveyed have purchased something online. [Source, Nielsen, Feb 2008] 37

41. 38 [Source: YStats.com, June 2009]

42. 39 Naspers, the South African media giant, is continuing on its online acquisition spree across Europe and now Latin America: it has acquired 91 percent stake in Brazilian online e-commerce group Buscape.com, for $342 million. Buscape provides comparison shopping solutions to more than 100 portals and websites in Latin America, including Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), Globo and Abril, among others. It also runs QueBarato, a free-classifieds network in Latin America. In addition it has an affiliate advertising network named Lomadee, an e-commerce research business, eBit, and a fraud risk assessment service, FControl. Source: PaidContent.org, 29 September 2009

43. 40 insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

44. Web Business 2.0 is the opportunity to move on from just offering advertising, to providing solutions up and down the value chain to all customers – not only those “formerly known as the audience”, but those formerly known as ‘the advertisers’ and ‘the sources’. 41

45. Thank you. I welcome questions & suggestions. François Nel FPNel@uclan.ac.uk @francoisnel