From Clicks to Coins: The Evolution of Media Business Models

Dear Colleagues,

The media industry is undergoing dramatic changes with changes in revenue models.  News media in particular encounter challenges with high cost of production and dwindling revenues. While the direct payment and subscription models work for some media and specific content services, many still rely on indirect payment such as advertising and sponsorship.  Commercial business models dominate while non-profit or government support models are on the decline.  The growth in social media platforms and content formats give rise to new content genres and new media content suppliers such as social media content creators.

Cutting costs and relying on voluntary labor are trends that may threaten the integrity and quality of media content.  Funding of media start-ups and existing media organizations can have different models. Yet all media business models must be sustainable in the long run.  This Special Issue addresses the important question of how media can survive in this highly fragmented and competitive media environment and welcome new theories and concepts that help guide the development of media business models. Scholars are encouraged to offer creative and innovative funding models and case studies on such models are particularly welcome in this Special Issue.  

We invite submissions from the perspective of journalism, media and communication research, business or related disciplines that examine, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Changes in media business models and revenues of traditional media such as television, newspapers and radio;
• Comparison of news media and information content funding and entertainment content funding models;
• Crowdsourcing and other fundraising sources for media start-ups;
• Development of media business models for social media platforms and other information services;
• Funding models for emerging media such as video games, mobile apps, and streaming services;
• Search engines and Generative AI revenue sources and funding models;
• Non-profit funding models of media content;
• Direct and indirect consumer payment for media content;
• Cross-national comparison of media business models;
• Native advertising, product placement, and sponsored content;
• Impact on the funding models on quality of media content;
• Compensation of digital labor of social media content creators or influencers;
• Future funding models and revenues of traditional media and emerging media;
• Alternative funding models for media content.

Prof. Dr. Louisa Ha
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journalism and Media is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• media business models
• funding sources
• media revenue
• platform studies
• syndication
• sponsorship
• advertising
• product placement
• subscription
• paid content