Finding revenue from readers for sustainable press development

The issue of diversifying revenue sources and finding reader fee models is a matter of concern for many press agencies in the current challenging context.

Mr. Le Quoc Minh, Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan Newspaper, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association, gave information at the Workshop "Vietnam's press and media economy in the context of digital economic development" about the current state of the advertising market and its impact on the press: The global advertising market has increased in recent years, but for the press, it has decreased. Specifically, in the period 2019-2024, digital publication revenue decreased from 35.1 billion USD to more than 21 billion USD. Meanwhile, digital publication revenue increased insignificantly, from 10.6 billion USD to 11.9 billion USD.

Newspapers around the world are facing a number of challenges, with print publications declining in both volume and revenue. Digital publications, meanwhile, are growing, but not by much. It is important to note that the increase in digital publications cannot compensate for the loss of print publications.

Many statistics show that, although today's electronic newspapers attract a large number of readers, 70% - 75% of "digital advertising" revenue still flows into the pockets of cross-border technology platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok... News sites and social networking sites also compete fiercely, making the issue of journalism and media economics in the digital context more urgent and necessary than ever.

Chairman of Vietnam Journalists Association Le Quoc Minh

Obviously, facing this reality, according to Mr. Le Quoc Minh, press agencies around the world have been interested in diversifying revenue sources, focusing on solutions such as organizing events, attracting sponsorship, cooperating with social networks as well as technology-artificial intelligence platforms...

However, there are still many difficulties in developing the press economy in Vietnam. Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Chi Trung, Deputy Director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication Training, Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities, pointed out the bottlenecks in the press-media economy in Vietnam that are currently underdeveloped, including: Problems of awareness and goals; pressure from the technology-technical explosion; harmonizing interest relations; bottlenecks in building the overall system structure of the press-media economy and press-media management institutions to meet new requirements.

Discussing the solution, Mr. Le Quoc Minh said that finding revenue from readers is becoming more and more important and that is a safer source of income. Most major press agencies in the world today charge fees, while in Vietnam, if press agencies still wait to see if other units test wrong before proceeding, they are likely to make the same mistakes again.

In addition, agencies also need to embrace the trend of combining journalism with media, because journalists are the most proficient in storytelling skills. Therefore, producing advertising content for brands is a way for press agencies to earn additional revenue thanks to their deep expertise in storytelling.

In addition, press agencies also promote organizing events to generate revenue. Many agencies in Vietnam welcome this trend very well, such as Nhan Dan newspaper, Dau Tu newspaper, etc., which are also providing information technology services.

From the perspective of a management agency, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam shared that the Ministry will submit to the Government amendments to the Press Law, including content to resolve issues related to press economics.

Currently, the authorities are in the process of amending Decree No. 18/2014 of the Government regulating the royalties regime in the field of press and publishing in accordance with the implementation of the Law on Intellectual Property (amended). Especially for the regulations and guidelines on the fee schedules for paying copyright in the field of press. Mr. Lam cited the reason as the modest resources of press agencies and having to compete with social networks. But those resources continue to be eroded by the story of copyright infringement.

The Deputy Minister also acknowledged that changing the way of doing journalism and changing the way of doing business with journalism products is difficult, but nothing is impossible. The Ministry of Information and Communications encourages and hopes that press agencies will boldly come up with new models for doing journalism and doing business with journalism products.

The leaders of the Ministry of Information and Communications believe that the main source of revenue for newspapers aimed at readers is still from readers. However, other organizations in society, such as the business community, also need the responsible support of the press.

"The business community is a group with resources, they face more difficulties than what the press agencies are facing. They have experience in overcoming crises and difficulties. And they really need sympathy and sharing to progress together, achieve the development goals of each business, each press agency and develop the country in general," Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Lam expressed his opinion.

The Ministry of Information and Communications said it will listen to and acknowledge valuable comments from agencies and delegates present at the Workshop. The Ministry will review, absorb, and synthesize the comments and report to competent authorities for consideration to promote the development of the press economy.

The development of journalism in the new context is also one of the main topics for the school to build training programs, research topics as well as activities connecting with the domestic and foreign journalism community. That is also the orientation to create the content of the Workshop "Vietnam's journalism and media economy in the context of digital economic development" on the issue of amending and perfecting the Press Law in 2016.

This is the most important legal corridor for the development of press activities, so that the people's freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the press are guaranteed and promoted within the framework of the Constitution and laws, in accordance with the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of the Party: "Building a professional, humane and modern press and media".

Source: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/tim-nguon-thu-tu-doc-gia-de-bao-chi-phat-trien-ben-vung-152611.html