In a new report for the Center for International Media Assistance, Courtney Radsch analyzes global efforts at making Big Tech pay for the news they use and what they could mean for media development, media sustainability and press freedom, especially in developing countries.
The report examines three types of policy interventions: taxation, competition policy and intellectual property, and finds that implementing any of them is not just about political will but also institutional design, legitimacy and trust.
Facebook and Google have a duopoly on the digital ad market, leaving news outlets struggling to generate revenue from online content, the report argues.
It explains how AdTech works and argues that more research is needed on the link between referral traffic and revenues in order to design policies monetizing digital news content.
Successfully implementing similar policies in developing economies requires strong institutions and professional associations that can represent media outlets, facilitate bargaining, and independently manage and monitor distribution of revenues, the report finds.
Photo by Obi – @pixel6propix on Unsplash
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