As online audiences concentrate their digital activity around Facebook, should newsbrands get into bed with the enemy and use the social media platform to monetise their content?
Jim Stevenson, a digital transformation consultant, argues that in the short-term at least, this is a viable commercial strategy.
During a Mediatel and Trinity Mirror breakfast debate on Wednesday, Stevenson told Newsline publishers should “do it now” tactically while trying to figure out what comes next.
“You need to monetise your content somehow and Facebook is where your customers are, where your readers are,” Stevenson said. “So you need to be there – but I don’t think it’s long-term sustainable.”
Stevenson’s views coincide with an article published this week by Piers North, Trinity Mirror’s head of strategy, who discusses the publisher/Facebook dilemma in detail.
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“Much has been written about the perils of media owners being lured siren-like on to the rocks with short-term promises, but there is not a publisher who can afford to sit idly by and I suspect most ad tech businesses know that, even if they don’t say it in public,” North writes.
“As publishers, our potential global audiences are there in a way we could barely imagine a decade ago, which means our advertising revenue is also there, so it makes little sense for us to stand patiently by the sidelines.
“But working with Facebook is not a binary choice to our own futures.”
In the video interview above, Stevenson also touches on print’s strengths and weaknesses – and how newspapers can leverage readership loyalty.
