Media experts discuss publishing revenue models at Digital Media Strategies '17

Generating fresh, interesting content that is relevant is no easy feat. Editorial teams can often find themselves spending laborious hours researching, writing, and chasing deadlines. In such a fast-paced and competitive environment – the last thing that publishers need is the uncertainty of revenue acquisition.

With the migration from a large print audience to a large digital audience, publishers have had to adapt their approach when connecting with their audience. Their digital revenue models have shifted, and so has content distribution.

Print ad revenues have fallen for The Economist, and digital ad revenues have yet to make up for this loss. The Economist is not the only publisher who is struggling to generate revenue, The Guardian, whilst successful in their digital presence, have “managed to build a big reputation but no revenue”. Even The New York Times, who have more than 1.5 million digital-only subscriptions, say that;

The Guardian is expected to report a 25% rise in digital publishing revenues from £55m to almost £70m in the year to the end of March 2014.

Figures released by Deloitte and the Association of Online Publishers (AOP) show that digital advertising revenues for UK publishers were up by 18% in the 12 months up to December 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. This represents "the highest year-on-year growth since the revenues were first tracked in 2008."