The gloomy economic picture of journalism and the need to diversify revenue sources

The threat of tech giants

At the workshop "Vietnam's press and media economy in the context of digital economic development", Mr. Le Quoc Minh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association, outlined the current picture of the press and media economy in the world.

According to Mr. Le Quoc Minh, the global advertising market is expected to increase by 5.8% in 2024, but for newspapers, it will even decrease. Specifically, in the period 2019-2024, digital publication revenue increased insignificantly from 10.6 billion USD - 11.9 billion USD, while print newspapers decreased from 35.1 billion USD to an expected 2024 of more than 21 billion USD. Print newspaper revenue decreased from 50.3 billion USD to an expected 2024 of less than 40 billion.

Many world press agencies have had revenue from fees and other sources of income from online newspapers increase by 5.3 billion - 8.4 billion USD - a relatively large increase but not enough to compensate for the loss of printed newspapers.

In addition to advertising revenue and readership revenue, press agencies are interested in other forms such as organizing events, attracting sponsorship, cooperating with social networks as well as technology-artificial intelligence platforms...

Mr. Le Quoc Minh commented: "Seeking revenue from readers is a "safe source of income". (Photo: Son Hai)

Mr. Le Quoc Minh said that in the coming time, it is predicted that press agencies will pay attention to finding revenue from readers - which is becoming more and more important and safer. Meanwhile, advertising is still an important source of revenue, with many forms of advertising such as print, automatic advertising, video advertising... but this issue is facing difficulties due to the technological growth of the big guys.

"Google and Facebook are "eating" about 70% of advertising revenue. Searching in the AI ​​era is creating a big challenge, accordingly, the rate of visits from search platforms accounts for 50% of visits to press agencies, but large corporations such as Microsoft and Google are testing the so-called search generative experience that provides information content to searchers instead of links to news sites. The breakthrough in AI will cause a lot of difficulties for press agencies," Mr. Minh commented.

Even Google in February tested removing news from search results - creating a big threat when AI search engines will be a disaster to destroy the access of news agencies - not only search engines but also AI virtual assistants also answer questions by taking the content of the press but do not see the names of news agencies on these results.

Toll collection is the path many agencies are aiming for.

Paywalls are a topic that has been discussed in the press for a long time. The world press has tried this many times, made many mistakes before achieving the results it has now. The New York Times pushed it up, then down, then pushed it up again. The Washington Post decided to compete by not charging a fee, then charging a fee. And almost all major press agencies in the world now charge a fee.

Almost all major news agencies in the world today charge a fee.

According to Mr. Le Quoc Minh, there are many ways to build paywalls such as Hard paywalls - the way of the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal, users have to pay to access online content, Metered paywalls - New York Times allows readers to read a number of articles for free, then requires long-term...

" Charging fees is still the story that world press agencies are aiming for because an average article in the form of a New York Times report costs about 50,000 to 150,000 USD, and selling advertising cannot recoup that amount of money," said Mr. Minh.

However, the editor-in-chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper believes that the success of the New York Times is unprecedented, very difficult to create, they create a unique and inimitable product - the factors that drive long-term subscriptions are quality content and reputable journalism brands. Achieving more than 9 million long-term subscriptions, The New York Times President and CEO Meredith Kopit Levine says their success lies in providing the best content possible.

The Economist announced its best profit since 2016, thanks to 1.2 million subscribers and subscription revenue accounting for more than 60% of total revenue.

New revenue generating trends emerge

Mr. Le Quoc Minh mentioned the trend that world press agencies are doing and have certain successes, which is to act as media representatives - because journalists are the ones who are most proficient in storytelling skills. "Taking advantage of this skill to replace Agencies in producing advertising content for brands is a way for press agencies to have more revenue thanks to their storytelling expertise," said Mr. Minh.

Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper cited that Vox Creative - an award-winning content production studio - has become a one-stop content production location for advertisers. T Brand of The New York Times produces important programs and content for major clients such as Cartier, Google... CNN's Create Studio specializes in telling human stories, drawing on CNN's outstanding production heritage to provide multi-platform solutions to meet brand objectives.

In Vietnam, Nhan Dan Newspaper also established a specialized knowledge page with a lot of promotional content, and this is a way to generate significant revenue.

In the current context, press and media units need to find ways to diversify their revenue sources.

Organizing events is not a new story, there are many agencies that organize events to bring 20% ​​of their revenue. According to Mr. Le Quoc Minh, there are many ways to do this, for example in Vietnam, Dau Tu newspaper has a lot of experience in organizing paid talks for members or events with large numbers of people.

In recent times, Nhan Dan Newspaper has also organized events with revenue to do charity work such as the program "Kenny G Live in Vietnam" which has caused a big stir, or award ceremonies, gift giving to workers, and a political art program held in Tay Ninh recently which attracted more than 70,000 viewers.

E-commerce is the way the world is moving, and brand licensing is also a form that many press agencies have tried with some success. The New York Times even invested $30 million to buy the product review site Wirecutter.

According to Mr. Le Quoc Minh, providing information technology services is also a direction that brings many results. Large press agencies such as the Washington Post have developed their own technology products in a spectacular way, building 17 integrated modules. The Arc system alone supports over 400 websites with about 10 billion pageviews per month. The fee ranges from 10,000 - 150,000 USD/month.

"Nhan Dan Newspaper has sold its technology system to Lao press agencies. 14 years ago in 2010 - Vienamplus e-newspaper sold its mobile technology system to Vietnam Oil and Gas for a not small amount of money" , said Mr. Le Quoc Minh.

The move towards becoming a research organization is also a promising new direction. News organizations that have invested in experienced and competent staff to develop specialized topics can take advantage of these talented staff to produce high-quality reports for each field or for the government.

"In 2019, FT launched the consulting firm FT Strategies, using its internal capabilities and expertise from its successful transformation to help media businesses and media-related businesses," Minh gave an example.

According to the Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association, retail has now become a story of journalism: The New Yorker launched in November 2020, providing readers with clothing, home goods and other goods to honor the magazine, its history and its humor.

GQ - a popular men's magazine launched the Best Stuff Box, a quarterly box of clothing, personal care products and styling items, and revenue from this long-term subscription model increased by 150% in the following 2 years.

In addition, Mr. Le Quoc Minh also emphasized the need to find a niche market - finding it will find a business model, stop following the classic form. Clearly define the audience to be able to develop newspaper economic models with high profit margins, loyal users, or direct relationships with specific advertisers without being dependent on technology platforms.

Hoa Giang

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/buc-tranh-kinh-te-bao-chi-am-dam-va-su-can-thiet-cua-da-dang-hoa-nguon-thu-post299543.html