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i work for a media company that's seen record traffic highs during this time. so have a lot of other publications (readers really need information and entertainment rn!). and yet everyone is bleeding cash and cutting jobs because ads have bottomed out! what is the fucking point!!
you really gotta question the value of the metric around which so many outlets continue to orient themselves—pageviews—when it proves to be futile in times of crisis. there's such a disconnect to see the numbers and then see peers get laid off/furloughed and hope you're not next
in this climate, publications need to seek direct support from their readers in some way. that is one of the most critical things they can do to bolster themselves. and consumers have to disabuse themselves of this now-ingrained idea that everything is and should be free
ofc paywalls raises the issue of quality, truthful, ethical outlets becoming walled gardens, while people who can't afford to pay are left with fountains of misinformation and shit. that's not ideal, nor is relying on the whims of a billionaire owner, nor the precarity of ads
i don't have a solution! i'm just an idiot blogger, not a media executive who gets paid the big bucks to think about this (although, if it's any consolation, i think most of them don't have an answer, either, beyond "diversify revenue streams" blah blah blah)
