What Transact Does for Publishers

Transact.io is a new micropayments service designed to help digital media publishers (especially those in the news industry) monetize their products. By allowing customers (readers/viewers/listeners/consumers) of their content (articles/videos/audio/data) to buy access a la carte, Transact creates an “almost-free” model that makes publishers’ commercial success more directly tied to the value of their product than advertising does.

A handful of publishers thrive using the ad-based model, but most cannot sustain their business at current levels. However, there are several changes publishers can take to make their business sustainable, and Transact.io enables these changes.

1. Transact offers a simple, free software plug-in or module that supports the most popular Content Management Systems (CMS) and allows publishers to set prices, select free vs. premium content, and retain customers.
2. We keep visitors on publisher sites — we don’t aggregate or curate your content. We maintain a very low profile, and we let publishers market and deliver their products, like a good utility should.
3. We let publishers set prices, which can be as low as one cent. And we take a small cut.
4. With our dynamic pricing system, different content can have different pricing guidelines, that can change over time. Different types of news — national vs. local, politics vs. sports vs. entertainment (maybe some news sites will stop reporting on politics like it is entertainment), or news vs. magazines — can have different business models.
5. Transact.io enables publishers to regain control of distribution to publisher. Once publishers have a viable source of revenue beyond subscriptions, they can eliminate third party “partners” that diminish the publisher’s reputation, reader base and revenue.
6. Transact.io lets publishers determine the value of content, instead of advertisers, or ad networks. Note that value is different than price, but both are important.
7. Transact.io creates opportunity for publishers to generate revenue from occasional readers. Not everyone will or can subscribe, but metered paywalls that drive away readers generate no revenue from non-subscribers.
8. Transact.io provides an extremely easy way to test new business models — see what content is worth paying for, or what free content leads people to buy other content. Find out if people will pay for less, or even no, ads. Make the value of content directly connected to the revenue it generates.

To find out more about Transact, visit https://transact.io.