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The SubMoJour Project, conducted by the COMET Research Centre at the University of Tampere, investigates how journalism can thrive in the digital age. This international collaboration involved 69 semi-structured interviews across nine countries, focusing on various journalism startups. The findings reveal diverse business models, ranging from storytelling to service-oriented approaches, and emphasize the importance of adapting to audience needs and revenue sources. The project aims to provide guidance for aspiring journalists and startups to foster sustainable practices in an evolving media landscape.
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ChasingSustainability on the Net Esa Sirkkunen Research Centre COMET, University Of Tampere, Finland ECREA 26.10.2012 Istanbul
SuBMoJour-project • International project: USA, Japan, Europeancountries: UK, France, Italy, Spain, Finland. • Goals • To studyempiricallyhowit is possible to dojournalismprofitably on the net • To help studentsorjournalists to starttheirownventuresbased on the experience of others • To start to imaginewhathappens to professionaljournalism in the age of fragmentingaudiences and disappearing business models
Researchquestions: • howthesestartupshavestarted, howtheyhavesurvivedover the firstfewyears, howtheyfundtheiroperations, whataretheir products, main revenuesources, howtheyseetheirfuture • Material: semi-structuredinterviews with ”pure players” , non-profitsnotincluded • sustainability = profitability in this case • ResearchConsortium: USC Annenberg, USA, WasedaUniversity, Japan and University of Tampere, Finland
Submojour.net 69 semi-structuredinterviewsfrom 9 countriespublished on a database http://submojour.net
The reportwillbepublishedonline 31.10.2012Writers: Pekka Pekkala (USA), MikihitoTanaka (Japan), Johanna Vehkoo and Clare Cook (UK), Clare Cook (France), Nicola Bruno (Italy), LuchinoSivori (Spain) ,Esa Sirkkunen (Finland)
Findings • Two main categories in the cases: • Storytellingoriented business models: producingoriginalcontent, news and stories for audiences, making revenues mainly from advertisements • Service oriented business models: don’tmonetize the journalisticcontent as such, eg. curate and moderatecitizenorientedcontent, aggregate news fromotheroutlets etc.
Findings • Revenuesources: • Advertising;displayads, cost per view, cost per click, cost per action, weeklyrates • Charging for content: paywalls, memberships, subscriptions and freemiummodels • Affiliatemarketing • Donations • Selling data and services • Arrangingevents, training, consulting • Merchandise
itappearedthat business modelsare in manycasesrelated to the audiencetype, contenttype and revenuesources • how to connect the business models, audienceconcepts, type of content (orservice), and revenuesources
Conclusions • Different media environmentscreatedifferentsets of circumstances for journalisticstartups • The national media systemby Hallin & Manchinistillhassomerelevancealso on the grassrootslevel • However the national featuresmaybeevaporating – globalweb-basedplayers FB, Google, Amazon arerivals in the advertisingmarket
Conclusions • Journalists as business persons: moststartupswereeitherone-man-bandoperationsorsmallteams • Sellingyourwork to the nicheaudience and to the advertisershasbecomemore and moreimportantpart of journalisticwork • Flexibleoratypicalwork is becoming common – oftenbadlypaid, relying on shorttermcontracts
Conclusions • the serviceoriented business modelsseem to berisingalthough the selling of journalisticcontent is still the core in the majority of the cases
Future • Ifjournalismshouldmake a livingsolely out of the net: • smallnewsrooms, outsourcedwork, flexibleorliquidprofessionalidentities, goingback to 1800s? • Thishasmanyimplications • to journalism as an institution • for the selfunderstanding of journalists • nextstep is to continue with collectingmorecases – open invitation for collaboration to allintrested • start to contextualise the results with moretheoreticalthinking: theories of media convergence, politicaleconomy of the net, journalismstudies etc.