Ad Alternative: Monetizing Your Online Audience in New Ways

The future of U.S. media is uncertain. The iconic organizations that pioneered our access to information and defined it as an unalienable right, don't seem to be adapting to the shift of viewers from traditional media to the Internet. Last month's announcement by the New York Times that it will put up pay walls to its most loyal readers, raised hell in the blogosphere and at dinner tables across the country. And Comcast's bid to acquire a controlling stake in NBC Universal for $30 billion is down-right scary. The recent challenges faced by traditional media is partly due to the economy, the growing indifference of over-exposed consumers to advertising, the belief that everyone has the right to high quality content for free, and the diffusion of eyeballs across the Internet.

So how do giant media organizations, whose business models are structured to run on subscription and ad-based revenues adapt to the online model (or lack of model) for content distribution? It seems GE just gave up and New York Times is giving the old "freemium" model a try. It could work, but there are other ways to create value out of a reader's undivided attention, especially when the media platform is interactive. Media should be asking themselves, How can we take advantage of this two-way dialogue; If not advertising, what else is valuable that can be exchanged so viewers can access content and media can profit?

Hulu, which is owned by News Corp and Disney, is exploring an interesting model. Every once in a while, before viewing a TV program, movie, or clip, you are given options on how you'd like to take in your ads. Most often, you have two choices: one long ad at the beginning, which gives the advertiser more bang for their buck and allows you to get that pesky obligation out of the way, or intermittently throughout the programming (about 3, 15 to 30-second spots for a 30 min TV show). Sometimes you are asked about which product you're more interested in seeing advertised: "Would you like to watch an ad for Garneir Fructis shampoo or Hungry Man frozen dinners?"

And in the rare instance, you're given a short, very simple survey. Before playing last week's Biggest Looser (guilty pleasure), hulu served me five simple questions from Maybelline before I could view my content, commercial free. The questions were along the lines of, "Have you heard of our xyz mascara product?","How often do you wear eye shadow?", "What makeup brands do you purchase most?" All of the questions were multiple choice, so it only took me about 30 seconds to complete. The survey was painless, I was rewarded with commercial free programming, and Maybelline received highly valuable market data.

This model could be translated across online print media as well. One way a site like NYTimes.com, could more effectively monetize its audience of 59,133,997 monthly uniques is by creating an information economy on its website. Once you've read a certain number of articles, a question or series of questions would pop up on your screen and you'd have to provide an answer to continue reading. The survey would be easy to field because it would most likely pertain to your demographic and psychographic information, and contain only multiple choice questions. This kind of information is extremely valuable to consumer brands looking to gain insight into the market, political organizations, and research institutions, and it allows publishers to charge more for advertising because they can serve ads based on an individual's demographics, likes and dislikes. Traditionally, its been difficult to get people to give up their information, but in this case, the viewer is motivated to divulge anonymous facts about themselves in order to continue enjoying the content for free.

Media that pioneer creative ways of monetizing their audience will most certainly come out on top as viewership shifts online. I just hope some of the big players will give it a try. If not, scrappy startups with more dynamic business models will devour their market share. Be afraid, very afraid.