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Articles

CJOC: Vol. 6 No.1, June 2019

How Nigerian Print Publishers Explore Web-based Income Streams for Survival

  • Emmanuel Ifeduba & Tosin Olatunji
Submitted
August 27, 2019
Published
2019-06-29

Abstract

As traditional mass media grapple with hyper-competition globally with the attendant challenges of web-based alternatives and loss of readership and revenue, they are migrating online for survival in line with the contemporary management models. In Nigeria, it is not certain how they are adjusting to these new realities. This study examines the income-generation profiles of online news media in the country within the context of the technological determinism and mediamorphosis theories. Contents from 183 publishers were analyzed while four respondents were interviewed. Findings show that the websites generate revenue from advertising, online sales, downloadable content, subscription, syndication, sponsoring of links and affiliate marketing. Banner advertising was the most widespread (available on over 47% of the websites) while the advertisement billing trend appears flexible and partly compensates for offline losses. These findings indicate that the search for alternative sources of revenue in the digital environment is yielding results. To sustain revenue generation and evolve more income streams, publishers should deploy more resources to website optimization as well as online syndication and collaboration.