Distribution-Driven Journalism: The Business Model of Free Newspapers

In the new millennium free newspapers have mushroomed around the globe. The print media has undergone a paradigm shift in which free newspapers have moved into the mainstream and coexisted with the traditional newspapers in many cities. This paper examines this paradigm change by investigating the conceptual business model of the free newspapers. We propose to call the business model for the free newspapers “distribution-driven journalism.” This model provides a new form of newspaper operation mechanism which challenges the century-old “content-driven journalism.” This model is built around the notion of distribution. The distribution channel preselects the type and size of desired readers and they in turn determine the advertising revenue. The free newspaper content and format are derivatives of the reading experience in the distribution environment and the type of readers thus attracted. In other words, distribution is the primary driving force affecting readers, contents and revenue.