Every now and then, I see a “star” asking for help in the newspaper. They say they have no money to live, no money to rent a house, and have to work hard to make a living. Of course, they are not A-list stars, but they still surprise many viewers. Oh, can a star be so tragic?

On the other side, there are also noisy scandals, the main content of which is that the “star” is accused of having a star disease, and is asking for sky-high prices. At that time, public opinion is bewildered. Oh, it turns out that when at the peak of fame, people can attend events for 5-10 minutes and earn as much money as an ordinary person would earn in decades?

285 [Converted].png

But life always has exceptions. That is the case of singer Phan Dinh Tung.

Although he has almost disappeared from showbiz, many people must be shocked to know that this singer “does nothing” and still earns nearly 4 billion VND per year from just one “national” song, “Happy Birthday Song”. After nearly 8 years of release on YouTube, this song has more than 259 million views and is still growing.

Another case is musician Nguyen Van Chung with the song “Mother’s Diary”, the estimated income from only the source that can be counted is up to 2 billion VND per year. Other sources such as selling copyrights to foreign countries, using in customer events, brands, businesses and other commercial events can be even higher.

The common point in the stories of Phan Dinh Tung and Nguyen Van Chung is that they own a type of digital asset that has "multiple uses".

“Reusability” has always been a desire of content creators on the Internet, both professional and amateur. Because every day, billions of new content are created, but only a few of them attract viewers; fewer of them can make money, and still fewer of them can make money consistently. That is only possible if it has “reusability”, which is something that mainstream media almost does not have.

The story of moving from writing and publishing on traditional channels to the Internet environment has encountered difficulties in making money. Because the source of income depends heavily on advertising. Advertising obviously comes from traffic (number of visits, video views, number of reads). And traffic depends too much on the pressure of the press to update information and produce news articles continuously.

As I observe, information in the press has almost no “reusability”. Even the disposability is fiercely competed by social media platforms and “parasitic” websites.

In that context, the model of podcasts and/or shows on the Internet platform may be more promising. Some newspapers have opened podcast columns that do not follow current events, but instead have columns with “multiple uses” such as case files, decoding mysteries, love advice, etc.

And some journalists also join the race to become content creators with their own media channels. Typical examples include Tran Quoc Khanh with Quoc Khanh Show, Vietsucess; Thuy Minh with Vietcetara Podcast, Have a sip; or journalist Kim Hanh with 5 minutes of market talk.

And whether by chance or by design, these podcast channels all have “multi-use”. That is, there is an opportunity for the owner to earn accumulated money from advertising. The more podcasts there are, the older they are, the more views they get, and the income increases proportionally.

ONKJBX1 boc.png

But unlike the story of Phan Dinh Tung or Nguyen Van Chung, the podcast channels we mentioned do not have a very large number of views. Even when inviting entertainment stars or internet stars to participate as guests, these podcasts often achieve a maximum of 1 million views. The rest, the average number is 100 - 200 thousand for each video. If only relying on pure advertising, the investment in production is even higher than the advertising revenue.

But this type of podcast model emphasizes the personality of the host. In the language of media people, it helps podcast owners build their personal brand. That is, besides making money which can be considered as a sideline, podcast channels will help people like Tran Quoc Khanh, Thuy Minh or journalist Kim Hanh become KOLs, influencers. And they can make money, a lot of money from this position.

KOLs’ income comes from advertising linked to their personal reputation, attending events, becoming speakers, publishing books and selling other products and services, depending on their level of popularity, field of participation and personal reputation. It is difficult to give an estimate because there are too many variables, but earning around 1 billion VND is not difficult, if the podcast owner is willing to work hard!

But in the end, that income is still the income of the individual reporter. Nominally, they can exploit the advantages of the journalist, and also the press agency where they work to contribute to the development of their personal brand. But the newspaper offices themselves rarely raise the issue of exploiting revenue from this type of podcast channel.

In the booming era of social networks, short content, and the trend of shifting communication through influencer channels, I think the model of combining journalism and press KOL is very important and also very feasible. Instead of just trying to diversify content and form, offering content products to collect pure advertising revenue, newspaper offices can completely cooperate with talented, capable and passionate journalists to create conditions for them to develop their personal brands, then cooperate to exploit revenue from this personal brand.

At that time, the press will have a "potential land" to increase revenue, move from having to compete with social networks to a symbiotic model of sustainable development, reduce news pressure, and have a stable source of income thanks to "multiple use".