Since the birth of the internet, people have been predicting the demise of journalism. But it keeps rising from the ashes, in ever new forms. A surge in free, digital-only news platforms and information democratisation through social media is hurting legacy media organisations. The old advertising-supported model of journalism is dying. A quest for better business models has led to customer-centric, multi-product, paywall journalism.

Reader-revenue supported journalism remains a black box. Are subscriptions and paywalls just another fad? Can journalism be a product? The news versus views dichotomy has surfaced again. While many expect news to be free, some are still willing to pay for the views of well-informed journalists. How is subscriber-centric journalism designed? Except for a few erudite loyal readers, who will pay for content? What about podcasts, should they continue to be free? What are the business processes in such subscription-based organisations?

Our speaker leads an organisation that has pioneered subscription-based online journalism in Asia over a span of five years. He will speak on the challenges and strategies for monetising content and give a brief overview of the evolution of the ken.