(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
compile their own newspapers with content from a variety of sources have been successful on
a lower scale. Whether such an involvement model could be appealing for a large audience
remains to be determined (Campillo-Lundback, 2009).
Other proposals to develop new revenue sources include the adoption of the cable model, in
which a fee to news producers is incorporated into monthly internet access fees already paid
by customers. Online retail malls could be built into news websites with products from
medium and small enterprises allowing full sales transactions with news organisations
receiving a point-of-purchase fee. The proposal to develop subscription-based niche products
for elite professional audiences, with deep, detailed and up-to-the minute resources receives
the highest acclaim regarding feasibility (Project of Excellence in Journalism, 2009a; Russ-
Mohl, 2009; Singer, 2008).
Successful product and service portfolios - regardless of whether ad funded, subscriptionbased,
a product-service bundle or a combination – must provide a content experience that
cannot be duplicated elsewhere. Most important are also the convenience for the consumer
(easy access and payment, e.g. micro payment from within applications), mobility and quality
(e.g. electronic readers) (PwC, 2009). Sale of content with iPad, iPhone and smart phone
applications is another way to leverage content in this context (e.g. Der Spiegel online app).
Overall advertising will become more effective and efficient if consumers can be targeted
more specifically and with lower levels of waste. Therefore, an overall reduction in
advertising expenditure may not mean that advertisers are neglecting previous customer
groups but that they can achieve their goals more cheaply. This suggests there may be a
structural reduction in global advertising spending (PwC, 2009), leaving news and
entertainment media competing in a smaller market. In this context a successful advertising
environment must provide specific targeting as well as relevance for consumers. For
advertisers an accurate and transparent audience metrics is important, since the better the ad
coincides with consumer interest, the more interesting it is to direct ad spending to this
channel.
PwC (2009) points out that it is important to observe privacy regulations and customer
concerns over the confidentiality and integrity of their own personal data. Problems occur
through the wide differences in regulation for different countries, thus region-specific
challenges vary.
Another approach to stabilise profit margins is the implementation of cost reductions on
various stages of the value creation chain. Especially in the newsroom job cuts are an ongoing
measure. Synergies can be realised by combining newsroom and editorial staff for print
and online while using shared services (content sourcing, IT) (Hess & Benlian, 2008; van
Weezel, 2009). Besides, staff members in both journalistic and managerial functions are
developed into multi-skill people providing more flexibility regarding particular job
assignments. On the sourcing side there are potentials to include user generated content –
crowdsourcing - on particular topics and connect them with the professional product/service
offer.
Newspapers and news magazines have cut back space for news and even eliminated separate
business and features sections from the print editions to counterbalance increasing printing
and paper costs. In some cases the print publication, or at least home-delivery, is limited to
certain weekdays or the print publication has ceased to exist with only the online version
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