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Proven revenue ideas for publishers, both large and small
COVID-19 has reinforced the need for publishers to diversify their revenue sources. With advertising proving to be both a problematic, and an unreliable income stream, for many outlets right now, the race is on to find other ways to make media pay.
Last year, in a free report, we set out 50 techniques being used by a range of different companies. This was followed by two deep dives (also free!) into the emerging field of eCommerce.
Inspired by a 2014 list of 76 ways to make money from digital, produced by the Editor at Large of Business Insider David Plotz, during his tenure as Editor in Chief at Slate, and this 2015 list of 52 ideas by Josh Stearns, Director, Public Square Program at the Democracy Fund, I’ve been intending to come up with a more expanded list of potential revenue streams for a while.
Below I’ve compiled 231 hyperlinked ideas cutting across areas such as: Advertising and Sponsorship, Content, Business Models, Philanthropy and Memberships, as well as Partnerships and eCommerce.
You may disagree with some of the ways that I have grouped these ideas, and not all of them will work for you, but hopefully you will agree that this list shows that there’s lots of great examples to learn from out there.
Right, let’s get cracking!
Advertising
Advertising Products
- Ads for old media – TV, Radio, Print
- Ads for digital – mobile, tablet, website, social media etc. – includes banners and boxes
- Combined ad sell – Print + Digital
- Ad networks– i.e. purchase across titles e.g. USA Today Network, MediaNews Group
- Consortium Ad networks, national – Local Media Consortium
- Consortium Ad networks, local e.g. past efforts such as Sacramento Local Online Ad Network (SLOAN) and in Chicago and Boston
- Recommendation Engines / Boxes — — Outbrain, Taboola, Revcontent et al.
- Native advertising – Apartment of the Week, ZDNet Narratives
- Sponsorship of beats – News & Record’s Arts coverage, Greensboro, North Carolina, the Guardian’s Global Development series.
- Sponsorship of site – Longform (sponsored by Pitt Writers, the University of Pittsburgh’s Writing Program)
- Sponsorship of Slack channel – The Boston Globe (for small businesses during COVID-19)
- Underwriting —Common at NPR stations e.g. WCBE 90.5FM (Ohio), also VT Digger
- AdSense from Google
- Website Takeovers – On The Wight, other examples
- Homepage Takeover – The Guardian
- Section front takeovers – The Guardian
- Pre-roll video ads
- Mid-roll video ads
- Post-roll – NPR Visual Newscast on Amazon Alex and Google Assistant
- Outstream video – Burger King and Fin24
- In-Stream video ads – Reuters on Twitter
- Non-skippable ads/sponsor messages – NPR One (app)
- Podcast advertising – recorded ads (Mailchimp, Squarespace et al)
- Podcast advertising – presenter reads e.g. Pod Save America – usually including trackable podcast promo codes – Crooked Media
- Product placement aka “embedded marketing” – Movies and TV, Games, Newspapers and Magazines
- Targeted Print Ads – Hearst’s MagMatch (addresses readers by their names)
- Promotional Inserts e.g. flyers in magazines, coupons in local papers etc.
- Billboard advertising on the outside of your building (outdoor advertising is growing)
- Special sections – advertorial, Christmas guide, travel guides etc.
- Sunday Select – opt-in advertorial print product, for non-subscriber homes e.g. Arizona Daily Star, The Denver Post
- Freesheets – free newspapers such as the Evening Standard (London), Metro (across the UK), Isle of Wight Observer News
- Classifieds – Herald and News, Klamath Falls, Oregon
- Job Ads – Monster Newspaper Partnership, includes Cherokee County Herald (Alabama), Beatrice Daily Sun (Nebraska) and the King of Prussia Courier (Pennsylvania)
- Job Package – GeekWire (promo via website, Twitter, newsletter)
- Business Directories – Daily Herald, Provo, Utah
- Legal and Public Notices – East Oregon Marketplace, a service covering newspapers such as the Wallowa County Chieftain, Baker City Herald and La Grande Observer.
- Live Stream sponsorship – KPCC (Southern California Public Radio)
Advertising free
- Subscription – Netflix, HBO
- Tiered – Hulu and CBS All Access have no ad, and limited ad, plans
- Membership – e.g. Slate Plus members get podcasts advertising free + fewer on-site ads
- Ad free access to partner sites – Scroll
- License fees – BBC in the UK
Events (tickets and sponsorship)
- Industry focussed conferences — Recode
- Business Roundtable – Central Maine Business Breakfast Forum (Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal), Business Breakfast Forums (Portland Press Herald)
- Study Tours (Professional Development) – Technical.ly, FIPP
- Event Business – The Atlantic (AtlanticLIVE)
- Event listings – Charlotte Business Journal (Events Calendar)
- Pop-Up Magazine
- Digital Events (ticketed) – New Scientist
- Digital Events (sponsored) – Axios
- Digital Events (private Facebook Group) – Women’s Health (Hearst)
- Ideas (multi-day/week) — Texas Tribune, Atlantic, New Yorker
- Music Festival – MusicfestNW, Willamette Week, Portland, Oregon
- Book Festival – The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (est. 1996)
- Women-led – POPSUGAR Play/Ground
- Political — NJ Spotlight, Politico
- Consumer – ELLE Weekender (fashion, beauty, wellness, talks)
- Social (networking, happy hours, games) — City Lab and MinnPost, Geekwire
- Wedding Fairs – Chattanooga Times Free Press, Brooklyn Based
- Cultural (film, food, etc) - WBEZ Chicago BBQ, Portland Mercury Pizza Week
- Variety show– MinnRoast (MinnPost) annual song-and-skit fundraiser
- Local Business Showcase – Like A Boss, Portland Press Herald (1-1 Q&A with local CEOs)
- Notable Local Voices – Maine Voices Live (Portland Press Herald)
- Awards — GeekWire, Technical.ly, Billy Penn
- Education/Training (classes) — Amherst Media, Wanderlust
- Meet the Journos – Guardian Live, The Nation Cruise, MinnPost
- Celeb Meet and Greet – Makin’ It Magazine (Meet the DJs Industry Meet & Greet)
- Live Shows – podcasts such as Slow Burn, 2 Dope Queens, Ira Glass, Criminal
- Professional networking – Marie Claire Power Trip conference (invite only)
- Travel / Holidays – Buffalo Toronto Public Media, The Nation
- Sports event – The Denver Post Ride The Rockies
Content
Subscriptions and Digital Paywalls
- Print Only subscription
- Digital Only subscription
- Bundle (print and digital) subscription
- Corporate subscriptions – WSJ, MIT Technology Review
- Student subscriptions – Bloomberg, The Ken (India), Business Insider
- Trial subscriptions
- Subscriptions for non-news products – New York Times Games (e.g. Crossword) and Cooking
- Hard Paywall– FT, WSJ, Times of London
- Metered Paywall — Slate, Medium, Boston Globe
- Dynamic Paywall – New York Media, Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ, Switzerland)
- Freemium – Le Monde (France), BILD (Germany), Independent (UK) (as of 2019, data via Reuters Institute)
- COVID-19 Hybrid – coronavirus content free, range of other models for other content
- Subscriptions via third party sites – e.g. The Seattle Times on Groupon
- PAYG / Micropayments — Winnipeg Free Press, Blendle
- Geo-targeted – Dallas Morning News
- Google Consumer Surveys – complete to unlock access to content
- Email sign-up – complete to unlock access to content
- Cryptocurrency payments / Tokens – Chicago Sun-Times, Time, Brainpickings
- Large versus Regular Print products – Reader’s Digest
Newsletters
- General, Specialist + Events (sell banner ads) – KPCC (Southern California Public Radio)
- Niche – e.g. Coronavirus, Education (The Seattle Times), Oregon Outdoors (Statesman Journal, Gannett)
- Advertiser/Sponsor supported — POLITICO Nightly: Coronavirus Special Edition
- Subscriber only – Charles P. Pierce Membership Program, Esquire
- Membership Funded (e.g. Patreon) – Water and Music, Cherie Hu
- Reader-supported (e.g. subscription, no ads/sponsors) – Advisorator
- Newsletter Archive – Water and Music, Cherie Hu 2016–2019 archives $5+ on Gumroad
- Daily Audio Briefings (Amazon Alexa and Google Home)
Premium Content
- Global Live Streams – CNBC Pro (U.S., Europe and Asia streams available)
- Paid for Research — Skift, Economist Intelligence Unit, Business Insider Intelligence
- Org Charts (of tech companies) – The Information (free to subscribers)
- Paid for Insights and Analysis – Politico Pro, Stratechery, Harvard Business Review
- Specialist publications – FT’s Financial Adviser, weekly newspaper for UK’s financial intermediary community
- Subscriber only emails – Digiday+, MIT Technology Review
- Subscriber only reading lists – Harvard Business Review (HBR)
- Paid for Apps — This American Life (full archive on iOS and Android), the Skimm
- Substack newsletter subscriptions – Nicole Knows, A Media Operator
- Long form content in audio form – Audmn (subscription)
- Subscriber only stories – AdWeek, Digiday+
- Subscriber only app – The Economist, The Information (Tech Top 10)
- Subscriber/Member only podcasts/audio – Slate, Washington Post
- Platform based exclusive and ad free content – Stitcher premium
- Archive series – Ricky Gervais XFM shows and podcast
- Archive episodes – This American Life (iTunes and Amazon MP3)
- Back Issues – The Denver Post (last 30 days)
- DVDs, Audiobooks etc.
- Obits – Bay Area News Group (Digital First Media), Daily Herald (Utah), Over 1,000 newspapers partner with Legacy.com as the vendor
- Sell movie and TV rights – Home Coming, Pod Save America et al
- Make movie and TV series – This American Life (Showtime), The New York Times Presents (FX – FX Networks)
- White Papers “free vendor-supplied technical content” – TechRepublic
- Doubling down on Trump (NYT and others)
- SMS / Texts e.g. from journalists on specific beats – Subtext, from Advance Local
- Personalised newspaper front page – Times Union (Albany, New York)
- Print Magazines for a Digital Outlet — LoDown (monthly to 2015), Digiday+ (quarterly)
- Local Guides (food, outdoor, etc…) — Watershed Post (h/t @Josh Stearns)
- Special Editions – e.g. USA Today Black History Month 2019
- Commemorative book – Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl-winning season – Inquirer and Daily News
- eBooks – Londonist
- eBooks based on online special features – TechRepublic
- Quarterly (printed) book of long reads – Tortoise
Business Models / Biz Dev / Other
Business Models
- Mergers
- Acquisitions – New York Times buys Wirecutter and Serial Productions
- Split broadcast and print businesses – Tribune into Tribune Publishing (print and online) and Nexstar Media Group (broadcasting)
- Investment from old media – NBCUniversal and BuzzFeed, Disney and Vice
- Investment from VCs – Mic
- International Expansion – e.g. Quartz moved into the Indian market in 2014
- New language services – TIME for Kids
- Products aimed at children – The Gazette (daily newspaper in Cedar Rapids), The Week Junior
- Grants, Investment and Donations from Foundations and NGOs – Seattle Times Education Lab
- Investment / Donations from the public – NPR stations
- Investment from Government – BBC Media Action, Voice of America, Middle East Broadcast Networks
- Selling off downtown buildings – Tampa Bay Times, Chicago Sun-Times
- Match Funding – NewsMatch, Longreads (WordPress.com matches every dollar with another two dollars)
Services + Spin-off Businesses
- Wire Services – AP, AFP, Reuters, Press Association et al
- CMS and Digital Publishing Tools – Arc (Washington Post)
- Content syndication – Guardian, Washington Post
- Premium/Specialist syndication – Tribune Content Agency
- Branded Content Studios – T-Brand (NYT), R29 Creative (Refinery 29), Reuters Plus
- Digital marketing – TEGNA Marketing Solutions
- Web Design
- App Creation
- Copywriting / Content Marketing – e.g. authoring White Papers for businesses / B2B publishers
- SEO advice and consulting — Hearst Localedge
- Product development + consulting for other brands – BuzzFeed
- Dating – Guardian Soul Mates (closed in 2020)
- Archival Stories – Denver Post (goes back to 1993 online)
- Print and Deliver publications for others – NYT does this for Newsday
- Rent out studios + other facilities – Buffalo Toronto Public Media
- Research and Surveys – Harvard Business Review Analytic Services
- Subletting unused office space – NYT renting out four floors in their HQ
- Unused office space as a movie set – LA Times (netted $4m one year)
- Book Publishing – HBR Press (Harvard Business Review)
- Food Halls – Time Out Lisbon, Time Out New York, The Monocle Café – London
- Wine Club – The Sunday Times
- Physical Retail Stores – Monocle, National Geographic (London store now closed)
- Foreign Money Exchange – The Times Currency Services
Partnerships with Platforms
- Ad revenue split (articles) – Facebook Instant Articles, Apple News
- YouTube video revenue share – The Atlantic
- Paid to pilot new service – Facebook Live, (perhaps Spotify video podcasts?)
- Premium content exclusive to platforms – Snapchat Discover, Facebook Watch, Apple News Plus
- Platform product + training programmes – Facebook Journalism Project, Google News Initiative
- Creator Funds – Tik Tok, YouTube
- Digital Newsstands – full subscriptions or articles, Kindle, Magzter
- Digital Newsstands – subscriptions, unbundled articles, Magzter, Scribd
- TV series about your work – BuzzFeed (Netflix)
- TV Series developed from your work – Homecoming (Gimlet Media + Amazon Prime)
- Podcasts with ads sold by the platform – Acast
- TV series about your work – BuzzFeed (Netflix), NYT “The Fourth Estate”,
- TV series brand extension – Axios on HBO, “Explained” by Vox for Netflix
- TV Channel – Viceland (Vice)
Philanthropy
- Cash Donations — MinnPost, Vox
- Tip Jar
- In Kind donations – office space, equipment etc.
- Donations through Alexa – KUOW
- Donation of a car/vehicle – KLCC
- Pledge Drives – NPR + NPR affiliates
- Legacies / Planned Giving – NPR
- Crowdfunding — New Brunswick Today, The Lo Down (h/t @Josh Stearns)
- Crowdfunding stories – Guardian series This Land is Your Land, Spot.US
- Grant for specific series – Guardian’s This Land is Your Land via Fund for Environmental Journalism (FEJ)
- Crowdfunding roles – Little Bit of Stone, Texas Tribune
- Kickstarter fundraising for a series – 99% Invisible
Memberships
- Membership Program — CrossCut, Voice of San Diego, Berkeleyside
- Patron Programme – The Guardian
- Membership program with freebies – Bungalower (Orlando)
- Member only events – e.g. Tortoise digital ThinkIns
- Membership unrelated to core content – The Sunday Times Wine Club, Oregonian Wine club
- Investment Club – Jim Cramer’s members-only investing club, TheStreet
- Professional Networking hub – Forbes Communications Council, – Invitation-Only Organization For Senior-Level PR And Communications Executives.
- Patreon – Chapo Trap House Podcast, True Crime Obsessed
Data
- Sell your subscriber data
- Sell your email lists
- Lead generation e.g. White Papers for third party
- Lead generation – upsell to your own products e.g. Pars.ly, GWI research docs.
- Audience insights for Product Development – BuzzFeed
- Audience insights for partnerships – POPSUGAR at Kohl’s (apparel range)
- Market Data plus access to content – Bloomberg, Reuters
eCommerce / Retail
- Merchandise, T-shirts, mugs, posters, etc. – Study Breaks, BuzzFeed
- Licensing / Product Partnerships – BuzzFeed Tasty (p/ship with Walmart), BuzzFeed Goodful (w/ Macy’s)
- Locally produced merchandise – Richland Source: “Made in the 419”
- Publication’s own photos and prints – The Denver Post
- Subscription Box — POPSUGAR Must Have (quarterly)
- Beauty products – Beauty by POPSUGAR, Fabled by Marie Claire
- Amazon Associate Links — Wirecutter, Brainpickings, BuzzFeed
- Deals — Digital Trends, Slashdot, Jill’s Steals and Deals – Today Show
- Deals by Text (Weekly) – POPSUGAR Must Have It
- Online Fitness Classes – Hearst (Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Cosmo)
- Online Tutorials/Workshops – Family Handyman DIY University
- Online Courses – ZDNet Academy, Culture Trip
- Online Store – Times Union (Albany, NY), Digg, BoingBoing
- Motor Vehicles – Dennis Publishing (BuyaCar.co.uk)
- Fashion – Marie Claire Edit
- Affiliate revenue – Wirecutter, The Strategist
- Software – Digg
- Archival prints (digital and physical) – The Seattle Times
- Sales on platforms – Pink News and Snapchat
- Selling on third parties – Seattle Times (Groupon), Reader’s Digest (Groupon), Magazines (e.g. Hearst and Meredith) on Amazon Prime
- Sell merchandise through a company that fulfills it and pays you a commission – e.g. Café Press, DuraPlaq, Signature Gifts, Pediment
- Hotel Bookings – Culture Trip
- Cruises and tours – The Times Expert Traveller (discount for subscribers)
- Shop the Ads – NBCUniversal
What ideas have I missed? Drop me an email damianr@uoregon.edu or hit me up on Twitter @damianradcliffe and let me know!
