Media ID: rescuer of the newspaper industry?

Newspapers have an increasingly difficult problem finding a sustainable business model. It’s an all known fact that newspapers have trouble surviving and making profit. At first the switch from paper to digital seemed a solution but it turned out that people won’t easily pay for online news content. This, in combination with ad-blocker and many traditional advertisers who fear internet marketing, results in new problems.

There might be a new business model that can actually work. It seems that people won’t pay for content but they don’t mind sharing personal data in return for free online news articles. Big data is becoming highly important and functions as a currency between successful companies and organizations. Publishers can sell data to advertisers which makes it possible for the advertisers to locate their target audience and set up successful marketing campaigns. Data does not only functions as a currency but also as knowledge, called ‘knowledge management’. Creating profiles of your readers, tracking them and following them in a cross-digital way makes it possible for news brands to respond quickly to the needs of the audience.
 
It seems that collecting personal data is an efficient business model for newspapers. This is of course enormously dependent on the willingness of people to share personal data. Flemish communication scientists organised a large research project around MEDIA ID, an account that can be used to log in on all Flemish newspapers websites. The results of the study where positive, showing many readers who were willing to share data. Another result was that some newspapers can use their news brand, brands with a long history of quality news and journalism were easily trusted with personal information. People who had access or could change their personal information were also shown to be more willing to share personal data.


The digital environment is difficult for newspapers and it probably always will be. A sustainable business model is more crucial than ever. Newspaper are the watchdogs of society and their survival is therefore crucial. Big data works both as currency and knowledge, two keys to survival. Let’s see if our own Flemish Media-ID will be the long-expected solution!

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