Paying for Journalism…Advertising ever after?

Advertising has taken an interesting turn in the last year. Digital advertising continues it's strong growth, as evidenced by today's net behemoths Google and Facebook. Some began to call the beginning of TV advertising's end, but then hesitated and believe it continues to hold it's own. However, total advertising growth has perhaps slowed a little behind it's usual benchmark, GDP growth.

On the digital front, advertising continues to be the lifeblood of media sites, old and new. Business insider garnered large valuations culminating in a $343million investment by Axel Springer, valuing it at $450million. However, the "nakedly clickbait headlines" and the preponderance of auto play videos on all sites including Facebook and Yahoo, seem to be irking an increasing number of consumers. Apple's latest iOS allows content, or rather ad, blocking. A few ad blocking apps were amongst the most downloaded in the first days and weeks of the arrival of the new iOS. Content sites can fight fire with fire, but that does not resolve the underlying issues.

At the other extreme of content consumption, Netflix continues to grow strongly with it's subscription model. Higher end media examples like the Economist, FT and Wall Street Journal also seem to be increasingly competent in managing their subscriptions. Could this move be significant enough to impact total advertising growth, to knock it down some basis point below GDP growth?

Perhaps it is also finally time for a blended approach. Could we be finally ready for micro-payments? It feels like the technology and the consumer understanding is now there to allow an a la carte option, even a market for content, with caps by publisher that would trigger their subscription package to avoid fleecing the consumer. I am not sure whether Blendle or others are following this exact approach, but they are nevertheless very interesting to watch.

Blendle: A radical experiment with micropayments in journalism, 365 days later — On Blendle — Medium: "Today exactly one year ago we launched our pay-per-article startup Blendle in the Netherlands. The goal: put all newspapers and magazines in the country behind one (quite sexy) paywall, and make it so easy to use that young people start paying for journalism again."


Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------ Henry Blodget Has Found Another Tech Boom -- NYMag:“Digital advertising is growing fast, our revenue is growing fast, and I don’t see anything that is going to stop that shift.”

In January, Business Insider raised $25 million, at an estimated $200 million valuation. Now the nakedly clickbait headlines they pioneered are commonplace, and the site is regarded as a template for new-media companies with no print legacy or email service.

Some facts about Business Insider's acquisition by Axel Springer - Fortune: As we reported earlier, German media giant Axel Springer is acquiring a controlling stake in media startup Business Insider for $343 million, which values the New York-based company at about $450 million. You can read more about the background of the deal and some analysis about what it means for Business Insider and Axel Springer