While the development of independent and niche publishers has been pervasive with some taking the editorial mantel of expertise and influence from mainstream media, the financial prospects of power bloggers are not at all clear, says Jason Pontin, editor and publisher MIT’s Technology Review. Jason was the longtime editor of Red Herring which chronicled the last tech/media boom.
Jason believes that niche publishers need to adopt a multi-level approach to revenue generation. I agree; these can include research, job boards, training, custom content, events and other services.
We have seen some very creative approaches to multi-level business from paidContent, GigOM, AlwaysOn and TechCrunch.
Mediabistro created huge value, not as a blog network but as a job and training business.
The bottom line is, don’t wait around to sell ads on a cost per impression basis. The dollars are not there and may never be, Jason cautions us.
— Andy Plesser
