Revenues

After the economic crisis of 2008-2009, media companies focused on developing new, incremental revenue sources in order to replace the shrinking, traditional revenue streams of advertising and subscriptions. In 2012, 20 percent of the respondents said that 5 percent to 10 percent of the total company revenue will have to come from sources in the next year in order to achieve their company’s objectives. Meanwhile, 19.2 percent of the respondents said between 11 percent and 20 percent will have to come from outside revenue sources, while 18.3 percent responded between 0 and 5 percent and 15 percent said between 21 and 30 percent.

While from 2009 to 2012, there has been a 46.8 percent increase in those responding their companies reportedly needing 0 to 5 percent in addition to traditional revenue sources, there has been a whopping 140.2 percent increase in those saying their company needs between 51 percent and 60 percent from outside sources, and another 140.2 percent increase in those saying their company needs more than 70 percent from outside sources.

The most dramatic shifts in outside revenue source needs have happened between 2010 and 2012, when there has been a 748.2 percent increase in the stated need for 51 percent to 60 percent more outside revenue in the next 12 months, according to the longitudinal study.

However, five years down the road, media company respondents tend to think more outside revenue will be needed in the long term. The largest portion of respondents, 17.5 percent, said their companies need between 21 percent and 30 percent of their revenue to come from sources outside traditional advertising and subscriptions in the next five years, while 10.8 percent thinks between 31 percent and 40 percent more will be needed in the next five years. Meanwhile, 14.2 percent said their companies will need between 6 percent and 10 percent more, while 11.7 percent said they will need between 11 percent and 20 percent more in the next five years.

While the majority of survey-takers in the past four years believe their companies need a mid-range of between 21 percent and 30 percent of their revenue from outside sources in the next five years, the percentage of respondents saying their companies need more non traditional revenue in the next five years has grown fastest in either the smallest or largest categories.

Between 2009 and 2012, the percentage of respondents saying their companies need between 0 and 5 percent non-traditional revenue in the next five years has grown 115 percent, while those who say their companies need between 6 percent and 10 percent has grown 70.2 percent. Meanwhile, those who think their companies need more than 70 percent more non-traditional revenues has grown 82.5 percent, while those who said their companies need between 60 percent and 70 percent has grown 54.4 percent in the past four years.

The data set is a part of a collection of 500 revenue and usership trends in mobile, social, Internet, tablet, video and other digital categories, published in the 200-page Global Digital Media Trendbook 2013. GDMT, in its eight year, is to be published by World Newsmedia Network, a not-for-profit media research company, in September 2013. To subscribe to the PDF report and/or the tablet edition, go to www.wnmn.org, or contact mstone@wnmn.org.