Traditional media have used systems like paid advertising and the subscription model to serve consumers. However, the results are not adding up as they used to because of the changing behaviour of users. Mika Honkasalo, the founder of the Access Protocol, anchored a panelist session at Breakpoint by Solana, discussing how Web3 tools are changing the face of media.
Michael McCaffrey, CEO of The Block, explained that there is a looming decline in the ROI of ads. Consumers are not interested in the typical subscription model again, and we’ve been experimenting with other models to serve our audience.
The CEO of Crypto Briefing, Mitchell Moos, also shared that publishers are getting crushed because the market is changing. One problem with the current model is the control and monetization of intellectual property where original content creators are not truly appreciated, and that has to change.
Subscription model not working
Speaking about their journey at The Block, Michael revealed that they were previously running ads and also issuing newsletters to reach out to consumers. When the subscription model for consumers became harder, we opted for a B2B structure, which has been more successful.
But with a situation where a little number of our audience can use the subscription model, a very large volume of our audience don’t have access to this content, and we truly want to give good crypto-based content to more users, Michael added.
Moos also shared the same sentiment when he explained that Crypto Briefing started in 2017 without accepting advertising dollars. “‘Then we shifted to the subscription model, but penetration kept falling, and that’s why we’re looking into Access protocol,’’ he said.
Betting on Access Protocol
At Block, we believe that consumers should be the focus of what we do by giving them value, and one way is by compensating them for the impression they generate for content created, Michael noted. He also explained that Web3 tools like Access protocol present a good way to incentivize and reward users for consuming content.
If we want to integrate NFT features into content creation, then we need to think about user experience as they want to access content seamlessly, Moos shared. Ads revenue should be shared with consumers.
He also pointed out that with the Access protocol, users can stake their Access tokens to support projects while retaining ownership of it and still read crypto contents. For us to attract traditional media companies, we need to prove that Web3 tools truly work.
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