News agencies have been trying to determine the best way to generate reliable revenue streams since the invention of the printing press.

Deodatus Balile, president of the Eastern Africa Editors Society and managing editor of Jamhuri Media in Tanzania, explained to attendees of the recent INMA News Media Summit that the profit behind news media varies substantially based on the technology of the time — print, radio, television, and now the Internet. 

The history of news media time and time again shows that to be profitable, the industry has to adapt to the times as they come.

However, print news media is in crisis. Companies around the world are finding their profits plummeting, and this trend doesn’t exclude Africa. 

The Daily Sun plummeted by 89% the last decade, Sunday Times fell by 75%, and many other news companies fell at similar rates as well. This trend also includes news media that relies on radio or the Internet.

Jamhuri media prioritises IT 

This trend includes Tanzania — a strong decline that’s affecting news across the country, Balile told summit attendees. But in looking at companies like Google, Apple, or Baidu, they’re not only profitable but are seeing their revenue soar. 

Why is this?

Mobile phones, advertisements, and — most importantly for news sites — the creation of platforms and Web sites to sell the industry’s news to the public are some of the most important elements for increasing revenue. Balile also mentioned fake news and citizen journalism as taking a cut into the news industry’s profits.

"Platforms like Google, Facebook, they are selling our news and we are getting nothing out of it. There is negligence by media petitioners, editors, and journalists on their actions and possible impacts. We have abandoned our roles of collecting, processing, and publishing content."

To cope with this, Tanzania is learning new technologies, blending existing news platforms with novel ones, as well as integrating advertisable content to the public. They are also selling content, looking for any opportunity they can find to become sustainable.

The permanent solution, they think, is unrelated diversification.

Real estate, manufacturing, and the fuel industry — that’s what Jamhuri does. Most importantly, he emphasised the need for incorporating IT into their operations.

“Without IT, we are done,” he said.

IOL’s 3 revenue streams: affiliate content, sponsored sections, events

"There’s no silver bullet. There’s no quick fix that’s going to bring us the kind of revenues that traditional media has brought us in the past. The margins are so much smaller on digital. So we’ve had to innovate with our models in regular media,” Lance Witten, editor in chief of South Africa’s IOL, told summit attendees.

IOL, one of South Africa’s most significant news sites that’s established a significant presence in the country’s biggest cities, has built a news team that reaches through many different niches.

The news site has three main revenue sources: affiliate content, sponsored sections, and events. Affiliate content allows for the generation of revenue via interactions from users, allowing widgets to be placed on mobile and desktop sites to create the biggest revenue stream for the company.

The next revenue stream for the company is paid-for content visible directly on the site, Witten said.

“The interesting next step we’ve taken from an IOL and South African perspective is entirely self-contained on our Web site. These would be paid-for sections with content that is supplied by the company, that is, taken up to sponsorship.”

A major sponsored section for them is sports teams. South Africa’s biggest teams all have sponsored content on their site, leading to immense interest from their audiences. This content allows them to better understand what it is their audience wants and how to make better decisions for generating revenue from their existing content streams.

Their third revenue stream comes from events, which is their most recently established one, having been initiated earlier this year. During the May elections, for instance, they’ve organised an event for people to come together and listen to their politicians and engage in discussion with them.

This, Whitten said, can help establish brand loyalty where people turn to you for the newest events and for the newest content. People are even able to engage with the people behind the scenes at IOL’s events, and this can play a significant role in humanising news media. Their mission, above all else, is to “provide a platform for users to engage with views they may not have otherwise.”

Their goal is to service the community through projects and initiatives that serve the interests of the broader populace. These revenue streams help IOL “give back to the most vulnerable in South African society.” 

Radio Tigabane’s strategy of multiple languages, listener donations

Radio Tigabane offers a unique perspective to the news world, Temwa Mhango, head of sales and marketing, said. Operating in the Malawi city of Mzuzu, it’s owned by the Catholic Church of Mzuzu Diocese. Operating as one of the leading news stations in one of the country’s only cities, they’ve established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the area.

A core part of their strategy is operating in many different languages — Tumbuka, Chichewa, and English are the primary languages they serve, but they also accommodate listeners internationally across the continent.

As a radio station, they transmit a unique mix of broadcasts related to their spiritual beliefs along with some news coverage and advocacy for the country’s pressing issues.

Their revenue stream is also particularly unique as they rely primarily on listener donations to get by, promoting a mindset that listeners invest in and own the radio station with every donation sent over. Other streams include advertisements for private and public institutions, hosting political debates in the region, and establishing project proposals. This is often done via social media channels like WhatsaApp.

Radio Tigabane is a core institution in the region, taking care of schools and servicing the community through their numerous programs and projects they take part in. Examples of this include projects for schooling, construction, and helping to give food to those in need.

They’re aiming to expand their business outwards, too, including in poultry, agriculture, and funding the public radio in their local communities.

Open Parliament Zambia extends reach through social media

Richard Mulongo is the CEO of Open Parliament Zambia (Open Parly ZED), part of Magamba Network’s Parliament Africa project. The goal of Open Parly ZED is to provide a service for youth to get involved in their country’s parliamentary process, encouraging the use of digital tools. Mulongo emphasised this is especially important in the modern age where these tools are becoming more and more important.

Open Parly ZED faces a problem, however. In addition to economic costs, there’s a great deal of censorship and government control of the media in Zambia. “The traditional media environment is highly costly, with issues of censorship and political influence where people cannot publicly publish certain voices,” Mulongo said.

The company aims to be a solution to this problem. They publish videos, infographics, live streams of parliament, animations highlighting the importance of citizens participating in the parliament and the importance of the public staying aware of what’s going on behind the scenes. They’ve also partnered with the National Assembly of Zambia to train journalists to provide unbiased and novel coverage to these issues.

“The primary role of journalism is to speak truth to power, transpire and accountability — to provide power for students to engage,” he said. “When certain voices are not allowed from certain media platforms, democracy is very weak. We don't have ... a media regulation framework.”

They put their content on platforms like Facebook, Spotify, and YouTube. By providing these services to the public, they’re able to oppose government corruption and actions that threaten the country’s democracy.

They generate revenue through donor-aided grants, consultancy projects, their video production, and through writing and publishing articles. Their focus remains the same: providing an essential service to a country that’s aiming to grow past corruption.

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