It was agreed amongst the panel that there are three basic models for generating revenue online
1. Make money from advertising, monetise users, they expect ads
2. Upselling adding paid for or premium extras around the basic product
3. Selling in one domain what you buy every day

The revenue model chosen depends very much on the product. For example, books being sold online haven’t had huge uptake, why? Well, books can be read in the bath (you are more likely to risk a few pounds/dollars/euros on dropping a book in the water than use your laptop) plus you can keep books on shelves, they say a lot about who you are as a person.

Other products which are direct competitors don’t have the same differentiators such as movies downloaded online. Maybe you don’t get subtitles and the quality isn’t as good but comparatively they are similar products.

Adam Freeman, deputy commercial director, Guardian News and Media told the audience that the key to success is giving the consumer the product in the way they want it. There are some methods consumers are willing to pay for it and others where they’re not. Organisations should change output to meet consumers needs.

He adds that “There are too many newspapers in the UK, there will be less in the future". Chairman Nick Higham correspondent BBC news picks him up saying that if that happened it would “not good for diversity of news and freedom of speech” but then  brings him back to the subject in hand.


Freeman summarises the commercial model for the Guadian as follows: “We believe in advertising. Working with key advertsiers who we’ve been working with for 30years. Now we’re working with them across mediums.

The final newspaper refeence was a tongue in check reference with a large amount of truth behind it: he is outraged that a newspaper costs a fraction of the price of a coffee. The contents of the former massively outweigh the contents of the paper cup in the latter so surely this will change in the future...