Many established newspaper firms in the United States have not been able to reconfigure their business models to the demands of the digital environment. A new report analyses the ecosystem of news media in the US. The report, aimed at Finnish media, gives a comparative perspective on new business models and forms of revenue, that could utilized by Finnish and other countries’ media.
The report comprises of a report on the financial situation of the media companies as well as 35 interviews with media managers, researchers, industry representatives and media analysts in the US, interviewed during the summer of 2017.
Traditional straightforward business models have become outdated, the researchers note. Contemporary business models require nurturing value-creating relationships with readers, advertisers, partners, and intermediaries.
Newspaper publishers in other countries should not copy solutions from the United States, but to use experiences from US to help clarify their strategies and to avoid many weaknessen in the US approaches, the authors suggest.
The authors of the report are:
- Katja Lehtisaari of the University of Helsinki
- Mikko Grönlund of the University of Turku
- Carl-Gustav Lindén of the University of Helsinki and Södertörn University
- Mikko Villi of the University of Jyväskylä
- Robert Picard of Oxford University
- Bozena Mierzejewska of the University of Fordham
- Axel Röpnack of the University of Fordham.
The report ”New Business Models in U.S. News Media” is available online (open access). The report is written in Finnish. It includes an English summary and two chapters in English from Robert Picard, and from Bozena Mierzejewska and Axel Röpnack.
Picture: Pretty Penny by JD Hancock, license CC BY SA 2.0