A4 Article in conference proceedings
The Design Towards a News Aggregator Subscription Service : Results from An Online Experiment (2021)

Kazan, E., Tuunanen, T., Ghanbari, H., & Li, M. (2021). The Design Towards a News Aggregator Subscription Service : Results from An Online Experiment. In Proceedings of the 54th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2021) (pp. 5439-5448). University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. https://doi.org/10.24251/HICSS.2021.661

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Kazan, Erol; Tuunanen, Tuure; Ghanbari, Hadi; Li, Mengcheng

Parent publication: Proceedings of the 54th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2021)

Conference:

Place and date of conference: Maui, HI, USA, 4.-8.1.2021

eISBN: 978-0-9981331-4-0

Journal or series: Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

ISSN: 1530-1605

eISSN: 2572-6862

Publication year: 2021

Pages range: 5439-5448

Publisher: University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24251/HICSS.2021.661

Persistent website address: http://hdl.handle.net/10125/71281

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/73669

Abstract

The newspaper industry is on a quest to discover sustainable business models. Digital subscriptions are stable revenue generators for most publishers. That being said, smaller publishers face challenges. By not having the same resource base to offset costs compared to larger ones, small publishers are in a constant state of financial unpredictability. Another persistent problem among them is the high churn rate of subscriptions (i.e., the cancelation rate), which suggests a value misalignment between readers and service. New services like news aggregators may promise publishers a large pool of paying readers, as readers have access to diverse content by different publishers and are willing to pay for pooled news content. But platform fees and the disintermediation of direct customer relationships enact barriers for many publishers. To address these shortcomings, this study conducts an online experiment based on design science research to test the performance of different payment plans for a collaborative news aggregator service. We identify preliminary design principles for value creation and capture, which can be utilized for designing a commercial and collaborative news aggregator service.

Keywords: newspapers; business models; digitalisation; orders (requests); news transmission; value creation; design-based research

Free keywords: design science; newspaper industry; strategic alliance; subscription

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2021

JUFO rating: 1