Future Journalism Monetization: Exploring Strategies for Financial Sustainability in Journalism Industry at Scoopcamp
The Scoopcamp innovation conference for media, held on September 8, 2022, at the Beachclub Del Mar on the Hamburg landing bridges, brought together industry experts to discuss the future of journalism. With around 140 attendees, the focus was on shifting back to an orientation towards the interests and needs of users.
Dr. Carsten Brosda, Hamburg's Senator for Culture and Media, gave an opening speech, emphasizing the importance of professional journalism for democracy. Joachim Dreykluft, a member of the management of NOZ Digital, and Jan Hildebrandt, founder and CEO of the Eimsbüttler Nachrichten, discussed the role of journalism within a democracy.
Jack Riley, Vice-President of Business Development & Revenue Strategy at BuzzFeed News and HuffPost, was awarded the 2022 Scoop Award. In his keynote, Riley discussed how journalism can be funded in the future. He highlighted Digital Creators and Video Formats as the future of the journalism industry.
Riley's sentiments were echoed by Luciana Cardoso, deputy chair of the News Product Alliance (NPA), who provided an overview of various monetization options in journalism. She suggested considering memberships with exclusive content, collaborations with branded content, and an appealing format variety including videos as potential revenue streams.
Nico Wilfer, Chief Product Officer at FAZ, reported on specific implementation examples of monetization models. Sponsoring specific departments, custom content for companies, and events were identified as promising models. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, for instance, uses artificial intelligence to generate user data and calculate the performance of articles, with the AI recommending whether a new article should be placed behind or in front of the paywall.
Data can help to better understand the interests of users, according to experts from business and science. More transparency promotes trust in the media, they argued. There is a willingness among large parts of the population to pay for quality journalism, according to Joachim Dreykluft. However, payment models for journalism need to be adjusted, and the often high price differences between providers should be reduced.
Differentiated reporting is needed against the backdrop of an increasing information overload and a heated discussion culture. Journalists themselves need to reflect on their role and explain it to readers to promote trust in the media. Users should be able to choose which articles and authors they want to read, according to Jan Hildebrandt.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's editorial team works with a 'predictive AI' that can predict the success of an article. The newspaper aims to have 300,000 digital subscriptions by 2030. Media companies could provide infrastructure for digital creators, as suggested by the speakers. Branded content is a potential funding source for future journalism.
In conclusion, the Scoopcamp conference underscored the need for a shift in perspective towards an orientation towards the interests and needs of users. The future of journalism lies in innovative monetization models, differentiated reporting, and a user-centric approach.
