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The Changing Face of Online News: Business Model Analysis of Four Belgian Cases in the Digital News Industry

This paper examines four innovative digital news initiatives in the Belgian market. The business models of the cases are described using an analytical tool to expose their differences and similarities. The initiatives were all launched by different types of actors in the ICT- and media industry, but seem to have in common that none of them rely on direct monetisation models to sustain their operations and indicate that, according to them, at least general news content should be free. In some cases trends towards platformisation can be identified as an indication news organisations need to find new models to attract critical mass from end users, content creators and advertisers. The paper concludes with some general identified trends and makes some suggestions towards online news publishers.