Monetising user participation, content and expertise: sources of income for Indonesia’s digital news media

Abstract

The global news media industry is still looking for a sustainable business model. The digitalisation of the media has forced the global press industry to seek compensation for lost revenue traditionally derived from advertising. A similar phenomenon is also occurring in a Global South country, Indonesia. With many social media users and thousands of startups, the opportunity to benefit comes from two channels: monetising user participation and content. What is the current position of conglomerate and digitally native news media on the two options? How are websites and social media used by both media to support these two sources of income? The research applied two methods, website content analysis and social media analysis, to see revenue channels, web functions, user participation on the web, and social media functions. In addition, we interviewed eight informants from eight media. This research finds that digital news media conglomerates and Indonesian startups earn profits through similar channels, such as monetising user participation and content and their expertise. However, slightly different from established digital media, digital native media companies expand their revenue stream by monetising their expertise, for example, by offering market research and data analysis. Digital news media with a niche market of readers will most likely offer their expertise.