Innovative business models for media from @WNIP PLUS After Facebook's bad week, Digiday looks at challenges that Google faces

February 07, 2022

What's New in Publishing finishes out its series about business models and revenue sources with a look at some of the newest, some might say experimental, ways to make money with media. Some, like membership, are familiar. Others, like expansion through acquisition, will only be available to a handful of big players or players with deep funding. It's worth looking at the section about revenue growth through new products.

The metaverse (or VR 3.0) is buzzy right now. I say VR 3.0 because this is at least the third time in my career when virtual reality is being touted as the next big thing. There was VRML in the 1990s with a dreadlocked Jaron Lanier talking about the promise of virtual experiences. And then there was Second Life, which to be honest, feels very much like the metaverse. Not long after I landed in London in 2005, it was all the craze amongst my gaming friends. But the shine quickly came off those earlier experiences. Well, now Facebook is pushing to make the Metaverse a business reality, and this year Sundance Film Festival is going to be partly a metaverse experience. It makes sense during the tail end of this part of the pandemic. We'll see if it has staying power once we can widely enjoy in-person events again.

PLUS The Conversation Australia has a column questioning News Corps' deal with Google to have the search giant pay for journalism training in Oz. Buzzfeed has a look at who is behind one of the buzziest NFT shops, the Bored Panda Yacht Club. Poynter expands fact-checking training with university students. And how a lack of coverage affects Wikipedia entries.

This is an excerpt from our free-to-download report, 50 Ways To Make Media Pay In this final section, we explore examples of well worn wider business practices that can support revenue growth and new income streams, as well as look at areas that are growing in popularity. Some of these emerging ideas are newer than others, …

Attending the festival in virtual reality was surprisingly similar to being there in the real world.

Does Australia benefit from Google paying for News Corp training?

Google-parent Alphabet just posted revenues of $258 billion for 2021, but 2022 will see it face some of the most critical challenges in its history.

The buzzy NFT collection has raked in millions and the eager support of dozens of celebrities. But its founders’ anonymity raises questions about accountability in the age of crypto.

Sign up for a virtual live workshop or show this new video to empower your students to tell fact from fiction online.

Notability, Necessity, Non-objectivity