free media enterprise 2.0
DESCRIPTION
Citizen media, business model and financing. The key idea is how free media enterprise can tailor their unique capacity to service others, embracing open source content creation in order to revamp the cost structure & increase scalability, creating combination of products and seeking the right mix of finance. The general outline of investors and donors are presented.TRANSCRIPT
Free Media Enterprise 2.0Citizen media, business model and financing.
By Sunit Shrestha, TRN Institute
Information is the currency of democracy \\ Thomas Jefferson
We all know how internet-enabled citizen journalism/media is emerging and could change everything.
financial SUSTAINABILITYis yet still a big issue.
No sustainabilityNo real growthNo partnershipNo long-term impactJust an insignificant niche ? Just another hype in the dead-pool ?
Spectrum of citizen media...No-time Part-time Full-time Over-time
typical bloggers / podcasters
hard-core bloggers / podcasters
Free media enterprise
Area of interest
High expected quality / capital requirement
Low expected quality / capital requirement
What to do for { }+ citizen media+ supporters investors donors
?
Especially those emerging
in developing countries.
Business model development
Product & service
Cost structure
Revenue / funding
Product & ServiceBASICS
Uniquely competitive content (faster, different, agenda-setting, insight, gossip, etc.)
Robust delivery format (website, e-newsletters, podcasts, printed media, mobile, etc.)
Product & Service
•Capacity service optionLeverage unique media capacity to service others with strategic fit.
• Reality-check growth
• More sustainable
• Lower startup risk
• CAUTION: Distraction & time to market
Product & ServiceCapacity service option:Emerging Cases
Center for Independent Journalism, Malaysia
Community journalism capacity
DuoCore, Thailand
Podcasting capacity
Siam Intelligence Unit, Thailand
Data management & communication capacity
Cost structure Assuming low delivery cost, the worrying cost is in the content generation model.
Editorial team
Crowd / community
sourcingHybridHigh control
High costDifficult to scale
Low controlLow/medium costHighly scalable
Editorial team approachPrachatai.com
Malaysiakini.com
User-generated media enterpriseCrowd / community sourcing as long tail aggregator & facilitator.
iss. +
Beyond bricks and mortar there are two main
retail models — one that gets halfway down
the Long Tail and another that goes all the
way. The first is the familiar hybrid model
of Amazon and Netflix, companies that sell
physical goods online. Digital catalogs allow
them to o!er unlimited selection along with
search, reviews, and recommendations, while
the cost savings of massive warehouses and
no walk-in customers greatly expands the
number of products they can sell profitably.
Pushing this even further are pure digital
services, such as iTunes, which o!er the addi-
tional savings of delivering their digital goods
online at virtually no marginal cost. Since an
extra database entry and a few megabytes of
storage on a server cost e!ectively nothing,
these retailers have no economic reason not to
carry everything available.
Profit threshold for
physical stores (like
Tower Records)
Profit threshold for stores
with no retail overhead
(like Amazon.com)
Profit threshold
for stores with no
physical goods (like
Rhapsody)
Media creation incentive spectrum
Money
Recognition, belonging, non-monetary
Manage monetary & non-monetary incentives along the tail.
Open source approachNowPublic.com: 12 million USD funding
(Open source approach).in.thBlognone.com
DuoCore.tv
Palawat.com
Hybrid approachPoliticalBase.com
OhmyNews.com (Korea)37,000+ citizen reporters
48 staff reporters
REVENUE COMBINATIONS
Subscription (with large enough audience first)
Content provider to other media intermediary such as cable network, mobile, etc.
Publication & physical media release
Events / seminars / work-shops
Capacity service such as research, podcasting, training, data analysis, etc.
Investment funding
Friedrich Naumann Foundation | Open Society Institute Media Development Loan Fund | SEAPA
ResponAbility | SIDA | YSEI
Grants
Loans Equityhybrid
Scale-up funding case in point Media Development Loan Fund
What investors/donors/supporters should do?
Share investment information & develop partnership
Micro venture capital focusing on free media enterprise.
Consolidate funding.
Explore innovative funding instrument such as loan-like grant, equity-like grant and equity-like loan.
Guarantee instrument for collateral option.