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Big Media Monetization in an Online World
Posted by Zephrin Lasker on November 14, 2008 at 11:55 AM PDT
Today, on my way to work, I heard someone say “Print is dead”. I put down my newspaper immediately and rushed to work, where I could breathe more easily in my pristine, paperless office.
Yeah, right. Honestly, I don’t believe for a second that print will die.
But that said, while we are on the topic, here are a few thoughts on how newspapers can monetize their online properties in the most optimal way to ensure that they continue to render the valuable services they do to society at large. 
To truly thrive on the Internet, newspapers will need to provide genuine value to both their readers and their advertisers.
Some newspapers serve “exclusive” content to readers online. This content is displayed in a manner similar to the print product – a format that doesn’t necessarily enhance the user experience online.
As for the advertiser, they often have to buy inventory on CPM pricing models which do very little in terms of delivering tangible returns.
One approach might be for newspapers to expand on these approaches in order to harness the unique capabilities of the Internet.
Readers will benefit from the power of links out to the Internet at large – after all, the Internet is a network, and not a discrete collection of separate sites.
An article in the New York Times points out how an increasing number of newspapers are leveraging the power of link journalism – where mainstream media is beginning to link to other sites within their content (in the manner that blogs do). Scott Karp (who coined the term) points out the benefits of this approach in the article by making a comparison to Google: “Google is all about sending people away, and it does such a good job of it that people keep coming back for more.”
Advertisers will benefit from a greater diversity in the pricing model mix.
In the advertising world, there has been a pronounced shift from CPM pricing models to pay-for-performance models. The 2007 IAB PWC Internet advertising report shows that for the first time, advertisers spent more on pay for performance advertising than on CPM advertising. In this economy, this trend will undoubtedly accelerate.
Newspapers can rotate in CPC and CPL pricing models in addition to existing CPM pricing models. They can look into monetizing untapped avenues such as the registration path. It might very well be worth their time, given that the latest Pubmatic Price Index shows average CPMs on display ad pages at 27 cents.
As a medium, the Internet offers unique opportunities to readers, publishers and advertisers. As newspapers continue to figure out the approaches that best work for all three constituents, we will all move towards a happier and more prosperous online world.
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