Opportunities come only to those willing to find a way.

The state can also become a major customer of the press.

On March 16, within the framework of the Vietnam Press Forum, a discussion session took place with the topic: "Diversifying revenue sources for press agencies".

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam

In his opening remarks and guiding the discussion, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam stated that the opportunities and challenges in terms of press revenue are now much different than before. According to statistics from the Ministry of Information and Communications, the revenue of press agencies ranges widely from 200-300 million to 4-5 trillion VND.

“Different press agencies will have different expectations about revenue. But there are only about 2 press agencies with revenue of thousands of billions. It can be seen that revenue has never been affected as strongly as it is now. The advertising trend is moving to the digital space, e-commerce sales methods are breaking the traditional commercial structure, there are many other ways to sell products that do not necessarily have to go through press agencies. Businesses have been looking for more effective ways to advertise. Brands are very concerned about the actual cost to convert a customer, creating orders at the lowest level. We cannot adapt in time, nor can we have a social network mechanism, we have to follow that way,” Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam analyzed.

Along with that, cyberspace has gradually eliminated the behavior of paying to buy newspapers and read content. The Deputy Minister of Information and Communications suggested a model of readers paying to avoid seeing advertisements. This will be a niche market for the customer segment with high demand in experiencing content viewing.

With a certain number of readers and subscribers, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam believes that press agencies can take advantage of this resource to become channels to participate in linking and distributing other services that do not conflict with press activities.

The discussion session received the attention of many leaders and press reporters.

“We can cooperate with businesses to bring products to newspaper readers. This will require current newspaper business people to not only create content but also have knowledge about e-commerce, advertising, revenue trends, and cash flow in cyberspace…”, said the leader of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

At the same time, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam said that, besides managing society, participating in orienting key media agencies, bringing official information to society to create consensus, the State can also become a major customer of the press.

“This is a very demanding but resourceful customer in ordering a number of information and propaganda tasks, especially policy communication. Exactly one year ago, the Prime Minister issued Directive 07 on strengthening policy communication work, showing a very clear change in the responsibility of State agencies in policy communication,” Mr. Lam emphasized.

Accordingly, the Deputy Minister of Information and Communications said that it is necessary to have a team, human resources and resources to do policy communication, in which part of the resources used to order newspapers is a very positive direction.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam also pointed out that the press is not the only agency that receives such attention because the current policy communication methods are extremely diverse, such as information portals, commune loudspeakers, social networks, etc. "It is not known which method will be superior to the other". From there, the press must improve itself to receive the State's commissioned revenue.

Along with that, Mr. Lam said that the State's institutions are now adequate to handle advertising violations in cyberspace. Thereby regulating the flow of advertising on cyberspace to official channels, including the press.

Revenue from policy communication orders gradually replaces revenue from the State budget and governing agencies.

Opening the discussion, Mr. Nguyen Quang Dong, Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Media Development, pointed out that in the post-pandemic years, 78% of press agencies had almost unchanged revenue or a slight increase of 10-30%; 16.9% of press agencies still recorded a decrease in revenue; 71.1% of press agencies had stable or decreasing revenue from advertising on print newspapers; 74.6% of press agencies had stable or increasing revenue from advertising on electronic newspapers.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Dong, Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Media Development

“Similar to the revenue trend of the world press, revenue from print newspaper distribution and print newspaper advertising of our country's press agencies are still the two main sources of revenue but both are on a downward trend,” Mr. Dong said.

The State budget, the governing body for the press, is not outside this trend due to the requirement of autonomy for press agencies that are State units. Meanwhile, revenue from ordering policy communications accounts for over 15% of total revenue, gradually replacing revenue from the State budget and governing bodies.

Regarding the implementation of reader fees, according to Mr. Dong, press agencies still face many difficulties because the application of data to understand and serve readers' needs is not yet popular.

Making recommendations for developing the press economy in the short term, the Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Media Development said that it is necessary to exempt and reduce value-added tax on all press products; simplify administrative procedures for policy communication packages; facilitate the implementation of the obligation to control user interactions when the press is present on social networking platforms...

In the long term, it is necessary to promote socialization to increase investment in technology and business capacity for press agencies; support press agencies to increase their presence and business cooperation with social networking platforms through the "bridge" role of the Ministry of Information and Communications and Associations; focus the budget on a number of core press agencies to build a group of key media units...

"You have to create a good product before thinking about where and to whom to sell it."

Considered a bright spot in diversifying press revenue sources in the context of a volatile economy, Vinh Long Radio and Television Station has a revenue of up to 1,500 billion VND/year.

Mr. Le Thanh Tuan, Director of Vinh Long Radio and Television Station, said that advertising activities currently account for about 85% - 90% of the total revenue of the station. Along with that is the revenue from advertising on radio by conducting many live programs and livestreams...

"On television, since 2014, Vinh Long Radio and Television Station has started to carry out joint program production activities. On average, each year, the station has jointly produced 40-50 reality TV shows, game shows, short films, children's films and science programs... mobilizing social resources to invest in program production, contributing to attracting sponsorship and advertising," said Mr. Tuan.

Mr. Le Thanh Tuan, Director of Vinh Long Radio and Television Station presented a speech

At the same time, Vinh Long Radio and Television Station has gradually expanded the distribution of multi-platform, multimedia content such as the free internet radio listening application THVLaudio, 48 YouTube channels, 23 Facebook Fanpages, 4 Tiktok channels... attracting more readers, contributing to bringing in new revenue for the Station.

Propaganda activities, mainly supporting the production of documentary films for departments and branches in the province and video clips introducing businesses, also contribute to generating revenue for this agency.

Besides the advantages, Mr. Le Thanh Tuan also pointed out many difficulties and challenges that Vinh Long Radio and Television Station faces in exploiting revenue sources at the unit such as: pressure to retain audiences, pressure on revenue sources, pressure on information competition... Along with that is the impact from the world and domestic economies in recession, causing advertising revenue to continue to decline sharply.

"Program production is still carried out in the traditional way, slow to transform; human resources serving digital transformation are still weak; digital platforms are exploiting revenue from abroad, so long-term investment is not certain; the press is still subject to a relatively high corporate income tax rate (20%)," the Director of Vinh Long Radio and Television Station pointed out a series of difficulties.

From the above advantages and challenges, in the coming time, Vinh Long Radio and Television Station will continue to focus on producing programs aimed at the public. At the same time, it will promote revenue from digital content production through training human resources, investing in equipment, updating new forms of advertising, collecting user fees, researching and effectively applying new regulations related to press activities in the digital environment, copyright issues, etc.

According to Mr. Tuan, journalists must first create quality products, "then think about where to sell them and to whom."

"In addition, we would like to propose some contents such as: not controlling the advertising time in entertainment programs; allowing users to collect fees through subscription fees or content fees on OTT infrastructure; exempting corporate income tax for press agencies or having flexible exemption and reduction policies each year depending on the fluctuations of the economy... The press must perform both political tasks and economic tasks. To perform political tasks well, there must be a source of income," the leader of Vinh Long Radio and Television Station presented.

Instead of being competitors, news agencies need to become mutually supportive partners.

During the discussion, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Nga, Editor-in-Chief of Giao Thong Newspaper, expressed her opinion that “the principle to survive in this period is to do the best in terms of content, all service sectors with strengths and specialties need to be expanded”. “Another form of diversifying revenue sources is seminars and discussions, we have also bid internationally to organize international seminars. Utilize data to create more audiobooks, television conferences…”, Ms. Nga shared.

Speakers discussed the topic of diversifying revenue sources for press agencies.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Nga, Editor-in-Chief of Giao Thong Newspaper (right)

Mr. Tran Xuan Toan, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre Newspaper (middle)

Mr. To Dinh Tuan, Editor-in-Chief of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper

Mr. Le Thanh Tuan - Director of Vinh Long Radio and Television Station (middle) discussed

As a financially autonomous unit for many years, Mr. Tran Xuan Toan, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre newspaper, said that this agency always seeks to diversify its revenue sources.

“Every month we have to have 14 billion VND to pay salaries to employees, not to mention investments in technology. So where does that money come from? The revenue is divided into group 1 which is customers who buy and read newspapers every day, group 2 which is businesses that buy advertising on platforms, group 3 which is government agencies. It is necessary to divide it up to have steps to take care of and pay attention to it,” Mr. Toan said.

If before the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency's print newspaper revenue accounted for 75%, now the proportion has reversed with 75% coming from digital platforms and social networks. "That forced us to invest more heavily in technology. However, the biggest difficulty is the team's habits when thinking about topics, working methods... there needs to be a revolution to change the habits of journalists", the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre newspaper emphasized.

Sharing the story at Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper, Editor-in-Chief To Dinh Tuan said that when facing difficulties more than 5 years ago, the entire editorial office joined forces to enter the "battle" to revive the newspaper's economy with the guiding principle of "fast - good - accurate - responsible - humane". The requirement is for each reporter to make every effort to bring value to the agency.

“Fast, good, and accurate, many newspapers can certainly do it, but responsibility and humanity have helped us build prestige and receive affection from society. We always do things in a humane, kind, and valuable way in the context of information overload on social media channels. Along with that, we promote community activities, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic such as charity, setting up rice ATMs right in front of offices... readers are getting closer and subscribing to newspapers, businesses are also joining hands,” Mr. Tuan shared.

Along with that, when organizing the Mai Vang Awards, in the past, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper had to hire outside organizations with large budgets. "But in the past 4 years, we have mobilized our own forces to organize, although there are many difficulties, reporters can work and study at the same time, and save a lot of costs", said the Editor-in-Chief of Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper.

Another bright spot at this editorial office is when the electronic newspaper Nguoi Lao Dong payment portal called "For VIP readers" was officially launched at the end of 2022, and currently has more than 30,000 registered accounts.

"This number is not too much, the revenue is not high, but it has contributed to raising the value of Vietnam's revolutionary press, raising the voice to change the habits of newspaper readers, valuing the value of articles more. This is not a journey of 1-2 years, but this path must be 5-10 years, but the important thing is that we dare to do it. Instead of being competitors, press agencies need to become partners supporting each other in the current difficult context, 'if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together'", journalist To Dinh Tuan expressed.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam delivered a concluding speech at the session.

Concluding the session, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam said that the important issue in managing the revenue and expenditure apparatus is to balance the cash flow between revenue and expenditure. There are currently unnecessary expenses for press agencies, technology will give us options to save more and optimize.

"We talk a lot about diversifying revenue sources in the current context, so we cannot continue to do journalism in the old way, we have to change. The opportunity to increase revenue does not come to everyone, but only to prepared minds, agencies that are ready and find their own way out," Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam emphasized.

Ky Hoa - Photo: Quang Hung

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/da-dang-nguon-thu-bao-chi-co-hoi-chi-den-voi-nhung-bo-oc-da-chuan-bi-cac-co-quan-san-sang-tim-loi-di-post288113.html