World Media Economics and Management Conference 2016

In March 2015, Facebook announced a project, Instant Articles. Facebook partners with news publishers who provide news for Facebook page. The partnership has caught huge attention. News publishers, as content providers, have partnered with online service companies, which provide platforms, to reach more readers for more revenue for a long run. However, online service companies not only controls users’ data and traffic but also the power to decide who will be able to read the content. Online service companies become a meta-gatekeeper (Riedmann, 2015). Is it worth exchanging autonomy to reach more readers? The study used case study to compare four cases of the partnerships between news publishers and online service companies: America Online, Yahoo News, Google News and Instant Articles. This study reviewed business models, value creation, and revenue sources from the past to the present to identify the patterns and the consequences of such partnerships. History suggests a fact that the news publishers’ partnerships with online service company are a persistent trend. Four reasons can be concluded from the data: large user bases, service, news reading experiences, and technology infrastructure. These four points are what online service companies have but news publishers do not. Ultimately, the study answered a question: Is it worth partnering with online service companies? Yes, but there are some concerns. Three findings merit notice: (1) Service is more dominant than the news content alone. (2) Visibility enhances credibility. (3) The value of news publishers’ brand name in the partnerships remains ambiguous.