Have you spotted the key differences? Maybe its hard to tell from the video. Go take a look in your browser, Vice & The Straits Times.
There are no ads or paywalls on Vice News.
Clearly, Vice must be at some kind of disadvantage by providing all that free content on its site right?
Not quite. Sure, Vice is dependent on the ad industry, but what vice is doing is adopting a loss-leader strategy on its main news site, a way to drive traffic to sponsored content.
“For Vice News, there’s no advertising on Vice News. The most popular thing we have online is our news platform, so it’s the fastest growing part of our business, but we actually don’t put advertising next to it for that reason. However, on the travel, food, and all of the other things, we make a lot of money. We rob Peter to pay Paul.” Shane Smith – Vice CEO
In a world where publications born in print have struggled to make money on the web, Vice’s business is only getting bigger. Vice still has a revenue generating print business and a deal with HBO to run a show on its subscription cable TV channel. But the bulk of its business and focus is undeniably online now. Take a look at its Youtube channels, Ad network and how much they charge advertisers Cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM)
Digital technology has increased competition as print and distribution costs have essentially fallen to zero, media companies and publishers that still implement paywalls on their sites should really rethink their strategy. All things being equal, marketers will pay more for consumers than consumers will pay for content. Paid versus free content? Free content wins, in the news publishing world at least.
References
http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/buzzfeed-vice-comparison-not-the-same
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2014/11/19/why-it-doesnt-matter-if-consumers-are-willing-to-pay-for-content/
http://www.businessinsider.sg/how-vice-will-make-500-million-in-2014-2014-6/
isaaclye 
Hi Isaac,
I loved your argument and how you brought into the picture of The Straits Times as well as VICE, which is a channel that I recently found out about and have been following them closely since. They are a very entertaining channel which really brings into light a lot of topics which others will normally stray away from. I did not notice the advertisement difference between the two websites which really shows how companies try to be very subtle about the advertisement posting in order not to “overwhelm” us with ads. The next thing we know is that we are at some other website other than The Straits Times.
I liked how you mentioned about the loss-leader strategy and how it worked well with VICE. But what about other companies which may only have one product or service? What do you suggest then? Is there still a way to make profits for such companies then?
Other than that, I am all in for Open Access too! *hi-5* Great work on the video!
Charmaine
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Hey Charmaine
Its interesting that you did not notice the advertisements on The Straits Times, are you running an ad-blocker in your web browser? If not, those marketers need to step up their game!
As for companies with only product or service, they could adopt the “freemium” model. They would give away their product/service for free, with or without ads, build a customer base very through word of mouth, organic search marketing, etc. Once they have sizable customer base, they can offer them an enhanced version of their product/service at a higher price.
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