No news is good news when it comes to the controversy over advertising on BBC.com. The organisation’s governing body, the BBC Trust, has again deferred a decision over whether to approve ads on the international-facing sites.
It seems BBC management is not yet ready to press the Trust for a decision.
At least the Trust is taking its time. In February it said providing independent news and information to an international audience remained “integral” to the BBC’s purpose, describing the internet as an “essential” part of that service.
The Trust wanted from BBC management was more details on how advertising revenue would be reinvested in BBC Global News and the BBC’s UK services, funded by taxpayers.
The idea of ads on the BBC has stirred up opposition from the unions, some staff and the corporation’s commercial competitors.
One of the issues is the damage to the BBC’s brand abroad. But another question is how much the BBC can expect to make from taking advertising.
There is little in the State of the News Media 2007 report to allay these concerns. From the section of the economics of online news
The economics of the Internet remain journalism’s billion dollar mystery. And in 2006, that mystery only seemed to deepen
It highlights some of the challenges facing news organisations trying to make money from the web. The growth in online advertising in the US is starting to slow and advertisers are pushing for a more accurate way to measure web traffic.
But there is a more fundamental issue, which the BBC has yet to consider, as spelled out in the State of the News Media report:
Then there is another question, possibly even more baffling, to be sorted out — the idea that advertising works so differently online, the economics need to be rethought more completely. The old journalism model of advertising was broadly based on audiences coming to look at content and staying to read or view the ads. Online, that connection is looser. When people visit the Web for news, they often do so in short bursts, with little attention to ads. Advertising online is more like the Yellow Page listings
This does not see to factor in the BBC ads plan, whereas this is key for the strategy to generate enough revenue to make it worthwhile.
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