Proceedings of the 4th World Conference on Media and Communication
Year: 2024
DOI:
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The Role of Platforms in The Journalistic Ecosystem: Innovative Business Models of Italian Media Outlets
Christian Ruggiero, Mauro Bomba, Luca Serafini
ABSTRACT:
An increased dependence of the news media system on online platforms has caused a readjustment of the traditional business models that supported media enterprises until a few years ago, which in some cases has resulted in a redefinition of the boundaries of the journalistic field. In this context, this paper aims to study how two different categories of Italian media outlets have responded to these prompts by balancing the need to inhabit platforms with editorial autonomy and economic sustainability effectively. The first category of media outlets includes Will Media Italia and Factanza, information projects anchored in the logic of online platforms and disseminated almost exclusively on social media; the second includes The Post Internazionale and Domani, media outlets with greater links to the traditional logic of journalism. Through semi-structured interviews conducted with selected members of the four news media outlets – from management area and editorial and marketing management – the study aims to identify the main forms of revenue and marketing strategies, from advertising in the traditional sense to the presence of branded content and native advertising, and the possible repercussions that these might have on the news making process, especially on the production routines and on the quality of journalistic products. Looking at these two very different categories allows us to understand how, through different channels and balancing strategies between information, marketing, and engagement, these media outlets attempt to make their business both economically sustainable and not overly dependent on forms of monetization generated by the platforms, thereby maintaining economic and editorial autonomy.
keywords: Business models; journalistic field; platforms; Italian media outlets; journalistic ecosystem