Newspapers that have survived for more than 100 years aren’t immune from needing to reinvent their business models. In fact, the presentations in “How news organisations successfully develop new lines of business” during INMA’s Media Innovation Week in Antwerp, Belgium, demonstrated commercial evolution is an ongoing process.

That’s true for the UK’s 130-year-old Financial Times and for Swiss media group Ringier, which is a decade shy of two centuries. For both, value comes from developing revenue strategies that bridge or expand the editorial departments.

The importance of the bridge role

Kritasha Gupta, head of business development, Financial Times, often finds it challenging to explain what she does for the newspaper — especially when her role is for a recognised brand that has been in business for so long.

That long history has allowed vertical silos to take root, so much of Gupta’s focus is to identify growth opportunities that can be created through internal collaborations that forge new commercial opportunities in a changing media landscape.

At FT, Gupta became the “bridge” between editorial and the various departments focused on revenue. By bringing different sides to the table (e.g., advertising, revenue, live sponsorship departments), they collectively identified topics of joint editorial and commercial interest. They essentially formed cross-functional workgroups to develop and incubate revenue opportunities around a core topic within each vertical, ultimately creating mini-brands. 

Key to each mini-brand’s development was the audience potential. Editorial leads were at the centre of each mini-brand. Without editorial enthusiasm, commercial ideas lacked the narrative to attract and sustain reader interest. Collaborating from the ideational stage allowed the internal groups to explore and vet content initiatives from different business angles. 

Metrics and principles were defined from the outset. It gave each mini-brand space, within boundaries, to explore and experiment. Mistakes were made. Sometimes, not all the departments were sufficiently corralled and looped into decision-making. Sometimes initiatives had to sunset after insufficient commercial growth. But more often than not, the editorial runway was extended to give more opportunities to develop audiences.

Overall, the mini-brands generated internal excitement that translated into building a more engaged audience — and greater revenue. As news organisations grow, geographies widen and silos start to develop, Gupta said the bridging function was instrumental in “fleshing out teams and starting new valuable revenue lines.” That helped the FT grow. 

Ringier’s 5R Framework  

Peter Chabrecek, head strategy & business development, and Corsin Heinzmann, senior manager strategy & business development, spoke about creating value through external partnerships.

After 190 years, the Swiss Media Group Ringier has extended its reach with entities in Portugal, central and eastern Europe, and Africa. It now reaches 200 million users. 

While reach is typically a business strategy cornerstone, Charbrecek explained that four other “Rs” are also connected: relevance, reputation, revenue, and resilience. Combined, they form the 5R Framework, which is the bedrock of the Ringier strategy. While relevance, reputation, reach and revenue are self-explanatory, research shows establishing 3.5 significant revenue streams leads to an important end goal: resilience. Charbrecek said this fact proved true at Ringier. 

Operating state-of-the-art media companies involves four elements: first-party data, platform play, personalisation, and scalable tech. The three adjoining pillars support Ringier’s diversified revenue streams: media, commerce, and sport.

Ringier launched Blic TV in 2022. The cable channel in Serbia is an extension of its print publishing arm. While it was a substantial investment requiring new expertise and new personnel, it proved to be an equally substantial driver of growth with new formats, new avenues for distributing information, and new audiences.

E-commerce was another stream that Ringier expanded. Commerce linked with mobile can take a reader from a news article straight to a product purchase. Not only did Ringier pursue traditional affiliate commerce sales on its shop pages, but it added an editorial layer with product reviews and comparisons and generated an additional commission layer.

Heinzmann elaborated on the third new revenue stream. By bundling sports with betting and technology, Ringier enabled sports gaming opportunities through content, including pre- and live coverage (which is already important to readers whether they place wagers or not). Partnerships with major betting clients helped further monetise Ringier’s sports strategy. 

Heinzmann said a strong digital-first approach was critical to pursuing new revenue streams. Not all methods work in all countries, due to the different stages of development, but testing is underway to see which revenue streams are viable.

Two paths to success

While the Financial Times and Ringier followed different routes to develop revenue, both illustrated the possibilities that come with “bridging.”  In Gupta’s case, that meant looking internally to develop new lines and serving as “the glue” for all stakeholders with a clearly defined vision and editorial-centric strategy.

Ringier’s Chabrecek and Heinzmann, on the other hand, spoke of forming alliances with partners, whether a cable provider, affiliates for e-commerce sales, or sports betting clients. In both cases, the business development teams played a bridge role and added revenue — and resilience — to their respective organisations. 

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