Report: Successful News Startups Need Diverse Revenue Streams, Value Propositions

July 30, 2010

Report: Successful News Startups Need Diverse Revenue Streams, Value Propositions

What’s the key to survival for nontraditional news startups? Diversity - at least in terms of varied revenue streams and ways to create journalistic and community value.

That’s one core precept identified this spring at a roundtable of a dozen innovative news startups and now detailed in a new report, “Seeking Sustainability: A Nonprofit News Roundtable.” The nonprofit startups included California Watch, The Huffington Post Investigative Fund, Chicago News Cooperative, Voice of San Diego, The Texas Tribune and others. They were brought together in April by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Among other central lessons the startups shared:

* Leadership, business model and visibility were more important to developing successful community and media partnerships than was initial financial backing.
* Traditional media partners, particularly public media, can be very helpful for distributing content and providing organizational and financial support.
* Memberships can be an effective source of revenue - incentives and benefits may be a further boost.
* Existing technology is a better bet than custom tools, especially for startups with limited tech staffing and budget.

For more on the report, visit a July 27 post in KnightBlog, or go directly to the pdf of the 82-page report, which also includes nearly a dozen videos from the roundtable discussion.