According to the Reynolds Institute of Journalism, newspapers have suffered a sharp decline in revenue since the rise of the Internet. Revenue from advertising has decreased, as has the number of subscriptions. This has led newspapers to lay off reporters and to cut back on coverage. However, there are a number of ideas that these papers can use to attempt to bring revenue back up.
Use a Subscription Model for Online Content
When the Internet first began, many newspapers placed the content that appeared in their print edition online for free. Many assumed that newspaper subscription and advertising rates would stay steady and that online advertising revenue would make up the difference. Since this has proven to not be the case, some newspapers have switched to a subscription format for their websites. While some are charging for access to the whole site, others are charging only for access to certain sections.
Charge Blogs for Content
Many blogs and news aggregators commonly reprint portions of an article on their own site, usually linking to the original story. While this will drive some traffic to the newspaper's site, often a reader will read a part of the story without leaving the blog or aggregator, thereby depriving the newspaper of revenue. As of 2010, few newspapers attempt to charge money to blogs for the right to quote from their articles. However, this could change as newspapers look for new sources of funds.
Go Multimedia
One of advantages of the Internet over print media is that it offers access not just to text, but to sound and video. For this reason, many newspapers, such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, have begun to offer video and audio content on their sites as well. This content is often presented with commercials, allowing the newspapers to draw additional advertising revenue.
Use In-Text Links
According to the media reference website Civic Edition, the L.A. Times has begun linking certain words in its articles to advertisers' sites. When the user clicks the link, a separate window opens with an advertiser's site in it. This provides advertising revenue to the newspaper while allowing users to continue to browse their site. In addition, advertisers can choose which words they wish to be linked to, allowing them to pick articles that relate to their product. For example, an online pet store could advertise in articles that feature the words "dog" and "cat."
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