Tasuta lehe kontseptsioon ja ärimudel. Tasuta lehe ärimudeli toimimine Eestis

Date

2003

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Tartu Ülikool

Abstract

Description

The present study tries to analyze in the discourse of media economics the area not studied in Estonia yet – the conception and business model of free papers. Before starting with concrete Estonian cases the author considered it important to give an overview of the conception and circulation strategies of free papers in the world, first of all of the economically successful Metro. The aim of the research is to study how structural changes in the Estonian media and media use in the 1990s created favourable conditions for the emergence of free papers in 1997. It appeared that free papers which emerged during the heavy competition between the two media concerns fulfilled media political aim quite efficiently without achieving the expected economic success. To prove the above-mentioned facts, the author analyzes relying on certain economic data the reasons of the economic failure of the free Tartu paper Tartu Börs. The analysis revealed that business model of a certain channel contains so many factors, that the model successfully functioning at one market does not function well in other market conditions. The economic success of free papers in Estonia is opposed by the small size of the market, absence of great travelling junctions and the factor that in Estonia free papers emerged as a result of competition between media concerns. The publishers of the free papers tried to follow the circulation and content conception of the successful Metro but did not carry out fundamental analysis of the situation on the advertising market, which is more important than barriers in entering the market. Another important obstacle was the fact, that free papers created an unexpected inner competition with other publications on advertising market and the publisher concentrated on ad sale. From the point of view of academic discourse, the analysis of free papers as a case in media economics, is limited from the one hand, as benefits and costs of a free paper as a part of a media concern cannot be completely controlled. On the other hand, it is a good case. For establishing the tradition of the analysis in media economics it is better to start with a more simple case – free paper, the publishing expenses of which are smaller compared to paid paper and the only source of income is the time and attention of the reader materializing in advertizing profits.

Keywords

H Social Sciences (General), magistritööd, ajakirjandus, trükiajakirjandus, ajalehed, meediamajandus, äriettevõtted, kontsernid, struktuurimuutused, tootearendus, meediaturg, majandusmudelid, diskursusanalüüs

Citation