All The Ways To Make Money In Media Without Ads

In media, the main driver for revenue is both subscriptions and advertising. These two means fund the growth of media on the web and are platform specific. That means, when someone subscribes or advertises to something, they do so on the platform rather than the individual. The platform holds the reputation, and the individual leverages the platfor... See more

The apparent limitation of the ad-supported media business model is that there will never be enough traffic to satisfy the beast. But while subscription revenue is stickier and gives creators more runway and short-term security, eventually the flame that started any new project will be extinguished. A new muse will need to be found.

Subscriptions or advertising. The pivot to paid is overall a healthy trend for many publishers, but subscriptions aren’t a savior. Ads still have a role, sometimes as the main plank of media business models. The success of Axios, Morning Brew and Dotdash prove that. And ads can work with subscriptions -- look at the success Bloomberg is having in t... See more

There are only two main ways to generate revenue in media: You sell exposure to your audience, You sell things to your audience.

I think Substack did a lot to pioneer the subscription model of newsletters. But I think those two models (ads or subscription) leave a lot of writers still without a great business model.