Blog networks, news networks, media empires: what’s next for us?
With the purchase of NowPublic this week–Examiner.com gets the scoop on NowPublic | M2O Blog–at the office we’ve been discussing the nature of startups, news gathering, and news dissemination. Now today I read about Chad Randall departing from b5media:
What Is Next For b5Media? Riddle me this…What is a media company with no sales? Answer…no much! Nothing has been confirmed yet, but my money is on b5Media being put on the selling block. I don’t think another blog network will purchase it as the original model of blog networks is all but dead, traditional newspapers are all struggling on both sides of the border, but I can’t think of who’d be interested in a network of blog based on the current market condition and online advertising sales suffering from the recession.
link: Chad Randall Exits b5Media, Will b5Media Keep The Doors With No Sales? | Profectio
Not a ringing endorsement of the business model, so I have to ponder what is the right way to earn money from content online. Creating great content (written, audio, video, imagery) take a lot of time, effort, skill, and creativity. If you want great content, it has to be paid for somehow. If the purely ad-supported model doesn’t seem to work, could we syndicate the content to other outlets?
Would someone pay for a certain number of posts per week to build up content for the site?
Frankly I’m not sure what content play might work, but I honestly think some form of paid syndication is going to play a role.
[As a note of disclosure, I worked at b5media, know all the founders (and count them as friends), and know Chad as well.]
