News discovery and consumption happen more and more outside of news sites and apps. People find individual articles, seperate from their original context on social platforms like Facebook. Many publishers gladly provide their content to these platforms to reach a broader audience. But what remains of the news brand, when coverage is fragmented and the source is easy to miss? Should publishers just completely abandon their own sites and apps in the future, and just become producers for technology platforms?

Dutch advertising and media magazine Adformatie wrote an article about this and asked Gonnie Spijkstra, Product Strategist at Nine Connections, and Jeroen Verkroost, former Chief Digital Officer of the Persgroep, some questions. Will native publishing on external platforms mean the end of the news brand altogether? This article is a translated and  re-re-edited version of the original, Dutch interview.

In Adformatie’s ongoing series ‘the death of …’ this week: the news brand. It is a new chapter in the great publishing debate, where the returning question is: how to earn more money with news. After banners, the paywall, DVD sales and digital subscriptions, recently the content platform is added as a proper business model. On social sites like Facebook and Twitter, and new kiosks as Blendle, readers consume their news per article. They get exactly the topics that interest them, and the ones they would like to share with friends. This is convenient for publishers who are assured the optimum attention to their content. Facebook can be a huge showcase for the content of newspapers and magazines. And conveniently, also the platform that hold their visitors as long as possible.

A win-win situation, you would say. But there are many Continue reading “The end of news media?” →