On Sept. 16, Canwest launched mobile versions of its daily newspaper websites across Canada, including it's national canada.com site.
Given the state of the media industry in these times, this move doesn't surprise me at all. Canwest is one of a long list of organizations vying for viewer attention, and on top of that, media outlets across the country are losing the advertising revenue that is essential to the business model in which they operate.
Even though nobody has come up with the perfect business model that the media can adapt to in order to sustain the industry, I think that offering "news on the go" has the potential to keep viewers engaged with "the local paper," albeit through digital means rather than buying a hard copy edition. In addition, a new door for advertising is opened through this medium.
Being that only a certain tech-savvy portion of the population would even consider looking up news on their mobile devices, advertising to a mass audience is -- at least for now -- out of the question. On the other hand, a demographic profile of the people who would access the mobile websites could be determined, which will allow advertisers to reach a very specific and targeted audience.
For those in the type of business that this demographic targeting would lend itself well to, it's a good way to reach the people you would need to reach without spending unnecessary dollars that may spill over to the eyes you don't care about. And for news organizations, offering a specific audience up for grabs can allow it to charge advertisers a premium for that sort of targeted delivery.
But once again, one of the main questions that comes to my mind is how newspaper outlets can make money through their mobile sites, other than through advertising. Just like the regular website, mobile content is available for free.
Why buy the paper when you can read the news for free?
If I had the answer to what business model newspapers should use to see their profits rise and get more employees back in the newsroom, I'd probably be sipping a beer on the beach of my private island.
For now, the question remains.
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