links for 2009-11-04

  • Kevin: There is a lot to the launch of the Texas Tribune, and there are some impressive web-native aspects of it as Martin Langeveld writes at Nieman Lab. The TribWire and TweetWire bring together some excellent aggregation, something that most mainstream outlets have failed to do. They have a Datablog, much like the Guardian where I work, as well as data and document repositories. They also have Topic pages. Look at the post for all of the features. In terms of revneue, they also have the Texas Weekly political e-newsletter available for an annual subscription of $250.
    This is not a replacement for a general purpose newspaper but a rather a statewide version of Politico, a highly focused news service.
  • Kevin: Mark Sweeney of the Media Guardian writes: "National newspaper groups need to persuade less than 5% of their internet audience to pay for online content to make a success of moving away from relying on digital advertising, according to a private equity financier.

    Dharmash Mistry, a former senior Emap executive who is now a partner at private equity firm Balderton Capital, told MediaGuardian.co.uk that getting about 3% to 4% of an online audience of a national newspaper to pay a modest £3 a month would cover the entire annual digital advertising revenue he estimated most groups currently make."

    Dharmash Mistry, a former senior Emap executive who is now a partner at private equity firm Balderton Capital"

  • Kevin: David Armano is part of the founding team at Dachis Group, an Austin based consultancy, makes some predictions for social media and 2010. Mobile. Location. Social media policies at companies that are enforced. Not a whole lot earth shattering here, but it is worth a look.
  • Kevin: GlobalPost expects to generate $1 million in revenue this year and $3 million next, reported Nieman Lab, from notes taken by Bill Densmore at a seminar organised by the Joan Shorenstein Center at Harvard, entitled "How to Make Money in News: New Business Models for the 21st Century."
    I'll be looking for a breakdown on how much revenue comes from advertising, syndication and their membership scheme. The site currently only has 500 paying members so I would expect that part of the revenue picture to be relatively small. I'd also be interested to see how it is working out for individual journalists working for the site.