Since the first days of the internet, consumers have generally taken for granted that content is free (the creator of the popup ad even regrets that his otherwise irritating brainchild contributed to this expectation). Now, as the ad-focused revenue model founders, people start to rethink the importance of journalism in a dark political climate, and information-overloaded consumers increasingly seek quality control, publishers are taking a cue from the likes of Netflix and Hulu and betting that customers will be willing to pay either for specialized content or for curation.
In part, we have President Donald Trump to thank for this shift. The more Trump relentlessly attacks the media, the more Americans are reminded that they can’t take a thriving free press for granted. Famously, The New York Times, repeatedly disparaged by the commander-in-chief as “failing,” has reported record subscriptions since Trump took office. Moreover, consumers are acutely aware that despite real failures on the media’s part in recent years, it’s journalism that uncovered the biggest scandals of the day, from the Billy Bush tape to Tom Price’s private jet usage to the child molestation allegations that changed the course of a Senate race just a few days ago. That public service, readers seem to have concluded, is worth paying for.
But it’s not just mainstream political journalism that’s benefiting from this shift, and it’s certainly not just a reaction to the president. A longer-term desire for experts to help filter through the noise has been apparent for years. Politico discovered that with its Pro verticals more than half a decade ago. Today, niche outlets covering everything from national security to chemistry to college sports are finding that users are eager to access specialized content — especially if it’s for less than the price of their Netflix subscription. Services like Scroll are experimenting with offering a curated (and ad-free) bundle of stories for a monthly fee. The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the phenomenon, highlighting the case of Bill Bishop, who generated $100,000 in a single day when he moved to monetize his well-read newsletter on China. My own publication, War on the Rocks, has a successful membership program for national security professionals that gives them access to a members-only podcast on international affairs and a forum where they can engage in private with others in their field.
In 2018, I predict we’ll see more users paying both for mainstream journalism and for specialized content. This material will get more specific and granular as publications think through the technical challenges and opportunities — for instance, perhaps outlets will soon allow readers to pay specifically for their favorite columnists. Or publications might double down on the promise of email newsletters, another potential source of subscription revenue, by finding ways to improve automatically curated newsletters, making them a more desirable and lucrative product without the labor-intensiveness.
It’s heartening that millennials, in particular, are a crucial part of the paying-for-news trend. It seems my generation — often seen as embodying the worst of the information age — could well be at the forefront of making this much-needed correction in the media industry.
Usha Sahay is managing editor of War on the Rocks.
Rodney Gibbs Tech workers turn to journalism
Ernst-Jan Pfauth Publishing less to give readers more
Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Borja Echevarría TV goes digital, digital goes TV
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Basile Simon We need better career paths for news nerds
Mike Caulfield Refactoring media literacy for the networked age
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Claire Wardle Disinformation gets worse
Sara M. Watson Feeds will open up to new user-determined filters
Lam Thuy Vo Breaking free from the tyranny of the loudest
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Pia Frey Address users as individuals
Mi-Ai Parrish Blockchain and trust
Jacqui Cheng Retailers move into content
Christopher Meighan Passive partnership is in the rearview
Hossein Derakhshan Television has won
Alastair Coote The year of self-improvement
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Debra Adams Simmons And a woman shall lead them
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Richard J. Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Federica Cherubini The rise of bridge roles in news organizations
Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
An Xiao Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Rubina Madan Fillion Unlocking the potential of AI
Michelle Ferrier The year of the great reckoning
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Jim Moroney Newspapers have to be good enough for readers to pay for
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Umbreen Bhatti The trust problem isn’t new
Lucas Graves From algorithms to institutions
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Andrew Haeg The year journalists become relationship builders
Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
Caitria O'Neill The new court of public opinion
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Imaeyen Ibanga Longform video leads the way
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
Brian Lam Sketchy ethics around product reviews
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
Helen Havlak Keywords, not publishers, power the world’s biggest feeds
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen The Snapchat scenario and the risk of more closed platforms
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Will Sommer The year local media gets conservative
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Jessica Parker Gilbert Design connects storytelling and strategy
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Corey Ford The empire strikes back
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Andrew Losowsky The year of resilience
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Kawandeep Virdee Zines had it right all along
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Marcela Donini and Thiago Herdy Collaboration is the way forward for Brazilian journalism
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Francesco Marconi The year of machine-to-machine journalism
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
Nikki Usher The year of The Washington Post
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Yvonne Leow The rise of video messaging
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
Zizi Papacharissi Women come back
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Edward Roussel Eyes, ears, and brains
Nushin Rashidian Publishers seek ad dollar alternatives
Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
Feli Sánchez The year for guerrilla user research
Matt Thompson Here come the attention managers
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
Mariano Blejman News games rule
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Adam Thomas Sharing is caring: The year of the mentor
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Jim Brady With the people, not just of the people
Nicholas Diakopoulos Fortifying social media from automated inauthenticity
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Raney Aronson-Rath Transparency is the antidote to fake news
L. Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Marie Gilot No assholes allowed
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Rick Berke Value is the watchword
Monique Judge Letting black women tell their own stories
Alexios Mantzarlis Moving fake news research out of the lab
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Renée Kaplan The year of quiet adjustments (shhh)
Betsy O'Donovan and Melody Kramer Skepticism and narcissism
Kim Fox Audience teams diversify their approach
Jamie Mottram From pageviews to t-shirts
Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
Errin Haines At the ballot, it’s time to count black women
Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Dan Shanoff You down with OTT? (Yeah, DTC)
Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Juleyka Lantigua-Williams Women of color will reclaim and monetize our time