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Multimedia Case Studies
The majority of these online media case studies were created for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA.org).
Zero-Sum Games: Framing the Paid Content Debate
Can Newspapers Charge for Online Content?
By Dave LaFontaineThe debate over charging for online content is a hot-button issue – sometimes when it comes up, the discussion degenerates into recriminations, name-calling and personal attacks that make political campaigns look civil.
Why? Both sides feel that they are not being heard.
Many on the pro-pay wall side of the debate say one of the great mistakes the newspaper industry has made in the last 20 years has been listening to a parade of high-priced consultants advising that “information wants to be free,” and that this has led them down the path to where there is no longer a sustainable business model.
When newspaper executives look around to see what’s gone wrong, what seems to stick out is that the content that they sweat and slave over -- that costs them good money to produce -- is not only given away free online, but it is sometimes the basis for other Internet players to make out like bandits.
Those on the con side of the debate feel they have been telling the newspaper industry for years that there has to be a fundamental change in the way newspapers do business. Whether or not there is a pay wall, there has to be a change in information distribution mechanisms and a diversification of revenue beyond selling ad impressions, so that newspapers are once again in tune with what readers and advertisers want. (View full case study in PDF format.)
Zero-Sum Games: Framing the Paid Content
Debate (Part 2)
By Dave LaFontaine
Many senior U.S. newspaper executives have long
complained that by effectively giving away the news for
free online, the industry has trained readers to regard
our content as having limited value. (View full case study in PDF format.)
Mobile Advertising: The Next Big Thing Hasn’t Arrived (But It’s On Its Way)
By David LaFontaine
Some optimistic analysts see classified ads on the mobile platform as an opportunity for newspapers to reclaim lost classified ad revenue. (Read full story.)
Who's in Charge of Whom? Emerging Organization Structures
By Janine Warner
In today’s increasingly diversified world of specialty magazines, hundreds of cable TV channels, and millions of niche web sites, media companies need to put a higher priority on understanding and serving their audiences, as well as marketing new products to ever-more-segmented audiences.
To achieve these new goals, newspaper companies are being forced to reexamine the basic structure of their organizations and reconsider how they allocate resources and divide staff into separate departments.
There are no perfect models, but in this article, we’ll explore how four media companies are experimenting with changes to the traditional publishing model and highlight a few ideas that seem to be working. (View full case study in PDF format.)
Schibsted Media: A Model for Global Innovation
By David LaFontaine
Schibsted Media dominates the Scandinavian market, and its moves into France, Spain, Switzerland, and other countries where it launched the 20 Minutes brand of newspapers are a wild success. Its web-based classified ad platforms are huge moneymaking engines throughout Europe. Schibsted is set on becoming the best source for breaking news video and has already beaten television competition on some big stories. (View full case study in PDF format.)
Multimedia on a McNugget Budget: The Shelby STAR: A Smalltown Paper Putting Big Ideas into Practice
The Shelby (N.C.) Star is a small-circulation daily in an economically challenged area that is experimenting with many cutting-edge audience-building strategies, such as stories are not permitted to run longer than 12 column inches or jump to an inside page. For less than $2,000, the Star has equipped its reporters with high-tech cell phones that allow them to wirelessly beam in stories, still pictures, audio, and video. (View full case study in PDF format.)
Ill Winds: Newspapers Use Latest Technology to Help Put a Human Face on Tragic Stories
The Roanoke Times covered the shootings at Virginia Tech; the Lancaster New Era covered the shootings at an Amish grade school. They used online multimedia resources to expand their coverage in ways that both told the story better and served their communities effectively. (View full case study in PDF format.)
El Tiempo’s Bold Branding Strategies Key Market Domination
El Tiempo, the largest daily newspaper in Colombia, has embraced a strategy of digital diversification. It has spun off at least 13 (and counting) separate dot-com products that dominate the Colombian market and have made significant
inroads in surrounding countries.
El Tiempo’s strategy is one of the purest examples of the “newspaper as part of an information web” concept, long touted by web-savvy consultants. The sites are divided roughly into content portals and transactional portals, and both are providing a strong revenue stream. El Tiempo reports earning 70 cents of every dollar spent online in Colombia. Managers decided to innovate before declining circulation and revenues forced them to do so, and they may have insulated themselves from the painful Internet market disruption faced by U.S. papers. (View full case study in PDF format.)