Tasuta lehe kontseptsioon ja ärimudel. Tasuta lehe ärimudeli toimimine Eestis
Date
2003
Authors
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