In a new book, Spanish researcher Ismael Nafría describes how Argentine daily Clarín reached more than 500,000 digital subscribers in less than six years. The study is full of practical tips for communication professionals. We present some of them here.
Thanks to the success of a crowdfunding campaign, the Mexican independent journalism production company Dromómanos not only avoided bankruptcy, but is strengthening its educational division as a source of income, as well as preparing a continental investigation into bank fraud.
Representatives of Radio Ambulante, Dementes, Revista Late, Dudas Media, and Convoy Network spoke at the Estación Podcast festival about aspects of sound content creation in Latin America. These include financing methods, the value of catering to a defined audience and the importance of protecting the intellectual property of productions in the face of streaming platforms.
“Journalism in the Era of Business Model Evolution: Imagining the End State” was the topic of the second keynote speech at ISOJ 2023. What is the next phase in the evolution of business models for news? As technology and habits change, diverse revenue streams and sustainability are common goals among media organizations.
Consolidating a sustainable journalistic project with editorial independence is a difficult task. In Argentina, where a fiscal deficit coupled with a currency devaluation and inflation reached 94.8% in 2022, the question is unavoidable: What fundraising strategies do digital native media such as Cenital, Chequeado and elDiarioAr implement in order to survive?
Investigative news outlets Revista Espejo and Red Es Poder, located in Mexico's high-crime states, have produced journalistic content for businesses and paid coverage of events as alternative sources of income. This has helped compensate for a lack of advertising resulting from brands' fear of advertising in news outlets that cover insecurity or corruption.
Just over a year after being founded by a group of 30 Brazilian news organizations, the Digital Journalism Association (Ajor) recently surpassed the 100-member mark, an achievement for the entity dedicated to strengthening digital journalism in Brazil. The growth of the association highlights the diversity of the sector in the country, which Ajor intends to help be recognized also for its economic importance.
The diversification of funding sources and the active participation of the State are fundamental elements to guarantee the economic viability of news outlets. Specialists gathered during a panel at the International Congress of the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji, by its Portuguese acronym) defended a change of paradigm in favor of a diversification of sources of income.
In 2022, the two oldest cooperatives of Brazilian journalists still in operation will reach 15 years of uninterrupted activity: Tribuna Independente and Portal Desacato. These achievements, worthy of celebration, happen through a daily dose of resilience and the financial effort of journalists who found in managing themselves a solution to survive in the market.
The second most popular social network for journalism consumption in Brazil, WhatsApp has become the focus of the distribution strategy of digital native news outlets in Brazil. They see an opportunity to establish a direct connection with the public, without depending on the algorithm of other platforms.
Representatives from the Sahan Journal and the Chicago Sun-Times shared at ISOJ how their outlets have applied the nonprofit model to deliver quality journalism, while the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism and the Houston Endowment shared why they are funding local journalism initiatives.
April Brumley Hingle, director of financial resources at The Texas Tribune, and Janine Warner, co-founder of SembraMedia, were the guests of ISOJ 2022 for a conversation about subscriptions, events, products, and tips on how to diversify revenue from news outlets.