Multiple Business Models for Newspapers | PwC

PricewaterhouseCoopers report on "Moving into Multiple Business Models: Outlook for Newspaper Publishing in the Digital Age." Key findings include:

Newspapers have been able to earn their readers' trust and loyalty, giving them the opportunity to both lead and follow audiences as they migrate online and into the use of portable electronic media. Indeed, with the core principles of deep analysis and trusted editorial, the medium is secondary to the brand.

Sustainability has increased in importance both for the newspaper publishers and for their readers, who attach high values to a publishing company using sustainable production methods. Some newspapers have addressed this issue, but many have not.

Niche audiences continue to demand specialised, targeted and relevant information. This creates both an opportunity for advertisers to reach their consumers and for newspapers to develop 'hyper-local' or 'local-local' sites addressing content at the neighborhood and suburban level. This is particularly prevalent in the USA.

Commentary by Anders Sundelin of The Business Model Database:

Something I miss in the report is the concept of a newspaper as an open platform. Newspapers such as the Guardian and the New York Times, and news organizations such as BBC and NPR have started to provide API (application programming interface) which allow third-party developers to access and reuse content databases in their own applications. This is something that the content owners can chose to charge for, enabling very interesting business models.

Hat tip: tweet by Tim O'Reilly. Link to pdf below.