Tom Foremski is a former Financial Times journalist. Last March, on his blog Silicon Valley Watcher, he coined the term “Heinz 57 Media Business Model” to emphasize the number of ingredients needed for a successful strategy today.
Multiple revenue streams are key to the success of future media companies. And each one will have a different mix of revenue streams.
It’s not enough to lunch out with a few of your top advertisers. Publishers will need to be expert in many different aspects of their business: advertising, content creation, custom marketing, subscription management, lead generation programs, events, syndication, virtual goods and currencies, and more.
As much as I love creating content for this site, I also love building the AdPulp brand and devising our next steps as a media business. I recently saw up close how Silicon Prairie News executes their annual event, Big Omaha; and I also took note of their syndication deal with Omaha World Herald. I’m impressed by their moves.
image courtesy of Oregon State University Archives on Flickr
In related news, Oregonian Editor, Peter Bhatia, wrote an editorial the other day that’s a showcase piece for the defensive posture adopted by too many in the news game.
Many want to write off The Oregonian. That would be a mistake, because we are committed to providing essential watchdog and investigative journalism on issues that matter to you, and at a level of journalistic quality that no other media outlet in the state can provide.
The Oregonian is not going away. We will continue to provide the deeply reported and verified journalism that is our hallmark, and we’ll provide it on multiple platforms, be they print or digital.
Note how Bhatia mentions his paper’s “watchdog” role and “verified journalism.” I can’t help but wonder who cares most about such things. I’m not convinced that the consumer of news cares. Meanwhile, who at The Oregonian, and at other mainstream purveyors of “journalistic quality,” is busy working on perfecting multiple streams of revenue?
I totally agree that a company needs to have multiple revenue streams to survive.