Newspaper don’t provide the news, but the distribution of the news
Newspapers liked to think that they made money because people relied on them for news, furnished by their fearless reporters and hard-working editors;… The Internet revealed the fatal flaw in this worldview: what newspapers provided was distribution thanks to infrastructure like printing presses and yours truly.
Internet reduced that distribution cost to zero
Once the Internet reduced distribution costs to zero, three truths emerged: first, that “news”, once published, retained no economic value. Second, newspapers no longer had geographic monopolies, but were instead in competition with every publication across the globe. Third, advertisers didn’t care about content, but rather about reaching customers.
In the earliest of times
Before humans could write, information could only be conveyed orally; that meant that the creation, vocalization, delivery, and consumption of an idea were all one-and-the-same.
How till AI help with news / content?
These AI tools will have a similar effect on highly differentiated creators, who will leverage text-based iteration to make themselves more productive and original than ever before.
User-generated to AI-generated
TikTok, which pulls content from across its network to keep users hooked, is the apotheosis of user-generated content; Metaverses may be the apotheosis of AI-generated content.
Lower barrier to entry for a new publication
The shift from paper to digital meant publications could now reach every person on earth (not just their geographic area), and starting a new publication was vastly easier and cheaper than before.
The changed relationships
The result is that ad networks don’t really care about the readers — … and on the flip-side publishers don’t really care about the advertisers
New business model is required
instead of focusing on journalism and getting the business model for free, publishers need to start with a sustainable business model and focus on journalism that works hand-in-hand with the business model they have chosen.
Niche vs Scale businesses
are they a niche or scale business? Niche businesses make money by maximizing revenue per user on a (relatively) small user base, Scale businesses make money by maximizing the number of users they reach