Services
Doing much more than content creation
This text is part of a comprehensive look at the Brazilian news environment.
Services are the fourth pillar of revenue streams considered in this research. Here I am including valuable activities that were derived from the core asset of news ventures, the news production. The services described are developing technology and/or offering consultancy to help implement them, training, events, and e-commerce.
Comparing to the other three pillars — advertising, paid content, and donation — this is the most heterogeneous one, since each of the revenue stream that composes it has very specific characteristics. However, the services here described have two main determinants: they can be designed to serve general users or journalists.
When the service aims to reach a general audience, usually it is trying to expand the online experience provided by the media vehicle to the real world. The idea here is to offer life opportunities that will encourage the user to pay for the service. When the service is being offered to other journalists, normally the company is acting as a supplier, taking advantage on their speciality and respectability as an important stakeholder in a given area.
Technology: Leveraging on a very specific knowledge
InfoAmazonia, J++
The sale of technology and/or the training on how to use it is also a way of generating revenue to a media company. Sirkkunen and Cook, during their investigation on organizations all over the world, recognized that this method has been particularly common in the United Kingdom. In the sample used in this research, there are two examples of earnings generated by technology: J++ and InfoAmazonia. The two organizations, however, have drawn very different paths.
J++ is a provider by nature. The mission of the startup is to serve other organizations, mainly media ventures, to deal better with their data. One of the ways they are doing that is developing tools that journalists can use in their reporting process. In addition to build the tool, J++ also offers trainings to teach reporters how to use those tools. Those two services are valuable for their clients, which are trying to offer better data experience for the users. This type of service is only possible because the company is positioning itself as a specialist in data journalism.
InfoAmazonia’s script is a little different. They specialize in using data to report about social, economic and environmental dangers that threatens the Amazon rainforest. In order to put all available data from different sources together, they felt the need of developing specific tools. One of the most successful is Jeo that helps organizations to tell stories with interactive maps.
As already discussed, InfoAmazonia works according to the Open Source movement, which means that every tool or product they develop can be used for free by any interested organization. However, different institutions and even politicians, from countries in Asia and Africa, have asked them to help to implement those map visualization and data tools..
“This became an important part of our revenue. We help NGOs and governments to use our tools,” says the coordinator Gustavo Faleiros, who believes that implementing tools in other organizations is also an opportunity of improving the product. “When we are implementing the product, we are using it again and again. We have then the chance of keep improving it.”
Training: Sharing what they know best
Escola de Dados, J++, InfoAmazonia
Another type of service that has been an important source of revenue for three of the media organizations here studied are trainings. Escola de Dados, J++ and InfoAmazonia, interestingly enough all working with data, promote workshops to different kinds of audiences and with different goals.
Escola de Dados has school in its name, which shows that training is the core of their operations. As largely discussed on donations section, this organization exists to empower a variety of society sectors to use data effectively in their lives. Those courses, tailored to the client’s need, are aimed to help people to develop skills related to data exploration, management and analysis.
Among the clients that can hire Escola de Dados’ services are, first and foremost, newsrooms, but also NGOs and companies that also need to work with data. Public universities, as discussed earlier, are also common clients for the organization. Nevertheless, so far these courses were subsidized by donations, therefore not representing a revenue stream.
The sibling organization J++ also offers courses to newsrooms and all kinds of companies to work with data in a meaningful way.
The third example is InfoAmazonia, that also have data in the center of courses and workshops. In 2013, they were part of the global program Flag It, which offered workshops for 48 journalists in four countries: Brazil, Nigeria, Romania, and Philippines. Among the issues discussed were sourcing/mining and cleaning data; visualizing and analysing data; mapping data; and crowdsourcing and mobile. After this experience, InfoAmazonia was able to offer similar trainings to newsrooms.
Events: expanding the digital experience
Papo de Homem, Mural
The promotion in events is a promising revenue source for media vehicles, notably for the ones serving niche markets. First, the organization specializes in a theme, thus has all conditions to identify the most relevant issues happening around it and propose an event with cutting edge discussions. Second, the media venture tends to be part of a community already interested in the theme, being able to easily find interested in attending the events — and paying for it.
More than organizing, participation is also an earning source. Papo de Homem, for instance, is invited to give lectures and speeches on important issues for contemporary men. Mural, the network of hyperlocal journalists, is considering to organize events to discuss relevant themes to understand outskirts of big cities.
In a less common format, Ponte is also considering to raise money with events. Because its members have lots of friends in the artistic scene of Sao Paulo, the organizations of art auctions is in their future plans.
E-commerce
Catraca Livre’s online stores
A less likely service encountered in this sample of organization is the e-commerce, adopted by Catraca Livre. With its idea of promoting cheap and valuable experiences in the city, the website has two online stores, Classificados and Vitrine. The first one is a channel where any user can buy, sell or exchange products, as long as it costs up to R$ 50 (USD 17). The second one is an online store where professionals in the areas of design, fashion, and arts can trade their products.
