WHERE ELSE IS THE MONEY?

Abstract

Much like their counterparts in the United States and elsewhere, British newspaper publishers have seen a sharp decline in revenues from traditional sources—print advertising and copy sales—and many are intensifying efforts to generate new income by expanding their online offerings. A study of the largest circulation newspapers in the 66 cities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland showed that while only a small minority did not have companion websites, many of the publishers who do have an online presence have transferred familiar revenue models. It has also been recognised that income from these sources is not enough to sustain current operations and innovative publishers have diversified into additional broad categories of Web business models. Significantly, this study did not only compare the approaches of various news publishers with each other, but it also considered how active newspaper publishers were in taking advantage of the variety of business models generally being employed on the Web—and which opportunities were ignored.

Keywords:

• business models
• newspaper websites
• newspapers
• online revenue

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to acknowledge the support from the Centre for Research-informed Teaching at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, which funded the Undergraduate Summer Internship Programme that enabled Mark Bentley, Sophie Scott and Louise Steggals to contribute to the study. For comments on earlier drafts of this paper the author would like to thank Jane Singer and Bob Franklin.

Notes

1. Web is here broadly defined as the network of all connected devices and applications, not just the PC-based application formally known as the World Wide Web.

2. The Newspaper Society (UK) defines a regional/local newspaper as: “Any publication in written form, on newsprint or similar medium, published in the British Isles (excluding the Irish Republic) at regular intervals not exceeding seven days, and available regionally rather than nationally (i.e. not available throughout all or most of the British Isles). It should contain news and information of a general nature, updated regularly, rather than being devoted to a specific interest or topic” (Newspaper Society, 2007).