5 ms·

YC’s NewsTilt Aims To Help Journalists Create A Business Model For Content

67 points by jasonlbaptiste 17y ago

zck 17y ago
This is, I'm assuming, a startup responding to RFS 1: The Future of Journalism (http://ycombinator.com/rfs1.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs1.html).
- pbiggar 17y ago
  Surprisingly, we came about another way. We actually applied to YC with a sort of Disqus clone designed for newspaper. We slowly migrated over to this after talking to lots of journalists over a couple of months.
  - zck 17y ago
    I wasn't sure how long you guys have been in stealth mode, so I thought you might've applied before the RFSs came out.
benologist 17y ago
I don't know if I'm reading it wrong or techcrunch missed some details but this just sounds like wordpress/blogger + "for journalists"...
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- qeorge 17y ago
  Sounds much more hands-on than that to me, almost like a record label or book publisher.
  - peyton 17y ago
    ...or a newspaper. What they've done is hire a bunch of journalists to write blogs. Still, there're plenty of interesting things you could do with a network of strong brands beyond Adsense. I'm guessing the 80% Adsense revenue is just to give the journalists something now for building their brands.
    - pbiggar 17y ago
      Its 80% of all revenue, and adsense is just the simplest thing to go with right now. We're in talks with multiple other revenue streams, mostly for syndication, and better ad rates. Stay tuned.
    - deleted 17y ago
      [deleted]
  - pbiggar 17y ago
    Right, but with a much better revenue share.
  - albertsun 17y ago
    Unfortunately, neither of those two businesses seem to be doing particularly well either.
- nkassis 17y ago
  I was going to say the same thing. I think they will offer value added things like advertising which was mentioned in the article. But the automated web site creation sounds exactly like what wordpress is doing.
- brandnewlow 17y ago
  There are entire teams of people working at the big papers whose job is to ensure that they dominate the search results for their category. If these guys can find a way to deliver Class-A search traffic to their sites, they'll be in good shape.
  - pbiggar 17y ago
    Amongst the many features we offer in the "you couldn't find the time to do it yourself, but we'll do it for you" category, is SEO.
- swombat 17y ago
  So you're saying it's a hugely successful product, adapted and tailored for a specific niche that doesn't generally have the know-how to do it themselves. Sounds like a winner to me.
euroclydon 17y ago
News is all about the brand. This is just a reset for the industry, and chance for writers to entirely absolve themselves from the old management model and old media entities, and create new, light-weight unencumbered news brands. The fact that they are being strict with writers and editors means that they actually care about quality -- just like Apple.
- pbiggar 17y ago
  I was with you til the last three words.
johnl 17y ago
Given the even point spread over the comments on this thread, the verdict is still out. Something's going to work, and I haven't found it yet so it will be interesting how this pans out. I definitely would want something where I can grab the headlines I like and the ability to drill down deeper in the articles.
hristov 17y ago
I have to say this is a brilliant idea. Currently, smart readers (like me!) have more allegiance to particular writers and journalists that they know are good than a newspaper or a magazine. So it makes complete sense for good writers to strike out on their own and not be tied down to the capital intensive and debt ridden newspapers. And of course this is better than the usual blogging platform, because if they can establish themselves as having quality content they can eventually get more money or even provide a subscription model for some of their more popular journalists. I see one problem however. The major thing that hounds all newspapers is libel suits and the like. It is not clear whether this type of service is responsible for the stuff written by its member journalists. However, all those statements about how they have editors and control their content editorially can certainly be used by some clever lawyer to say that the company is liable for any damages committed by any of its journalists.

zck 17y ago

This is, I'm assuming, a startup responding to RFS 1: The Future of Journalism (http://ycombinator.com/rfs1.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs1.html).

pbiggar 17y ago
Surprisingly, we came about another way. We actually applied to YC with a sort of Disqus clone designed for newspaper. We slowly migrated over to this after talking to lots of journalists over a couple of months.
- zck 17y ago
  I wasn't sure how long you guys have been in stealth mode, so I thought you might've applied before the RFSs came out.

benologist 17y ago

I don't know if I'm reading it wrong or techcrunch missed some details but this just sounds like wordpress/blogger + "for journalists"...

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
qeorge 17y ago
Sounds much more hands-on than that to me, almost like a record label or book publisher.
- peyton 17y ago
  ...or a newspaper. What they've done is hire a bunch of journalists to write blogs. Still, there're plenty of interesting things you could do with a network of strong brands beyond Adsense. I'm guessing the 80% Adsense revenue is just to give the journalists something now for building their brands.
  - pbiggar 17y ago
    Its 80% of all revenue, and adsense is just the simplest thing to go with right now. We're in talks with multiple other revenue streams, mostly for syndication, and better ad rates. Stay tuned.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- pbiggar 17y ago
  Right, but with a much better revenue share.
- albertsun 17y ago
  Unfortunately, neither of those two businesses seem to be doing particularly well either.
nkassis 17y ago
I was going to say the same thing. I think they will offer value added things like advertising which was mentioned in the article. But the automated web site creation sounds exactly like what wordpress is doing.
brandnewlow 17y ago
There are entire teams of people working at the big papers whose job is to ensure that they dominate the search results for their category. If these guys can find a way to deliver Class-A search traffic to their sites, they'll be in good shape.
- pbiggar 17y ago
  Amongst the many features we offer in the "you couldn't find the time to do it yourself, but we'll do it for you" category, is SEO.
swombat 17y ago
So you're saying it's a hugely successful product, adapted and tailored for a specific niche that doesn't generally have the know-how to do it themselves. Sounds like a winner to me.

euroclydon 17y ago

News is all about the brand. This is just a reset for the industry, and chance for writers to entirely absolve themselves from the old management model and old media entities, and create new, light-weight unencumbered news brands. The fact that they are being strict with writers and editors means that they actually care about quality -- just like Apple.

pbiggar 17y ago
I was with you til the last three words.

johnl 17y ago

Given the even point spread over the comments on this thread, the verdict is still out. Something's going to work, and I haven't found it yet so it will be interesting how this pans out. I definitely would want something where I can grab the headlines I like and the ability to drill down deeper in the articles.

hristov 17y ago

I have to say this is a brilliant idea. Currently, smart readers (like me!) have more allegiance to particular writers and journalists that they know are good than a newspaper or a magazine. So it makes complete sense for good writers to strike out on their own and not be tied down to the capital intensive and debt ridden newspapers. And of course this is better than the usual blogging platform, because if they can establish themselves as having quality content they can eventually get more money or even provide a subscription model for some of their more popular journalists. I see one problem however. The major thing that hounds all newspapers is libel suits and the like. It is not clear whether this type of service is responsible for the stuff written by its member journalists. However, all those statements about how they have editors and control their content editorially can certainly be used by some clever lawyer to say that the company is liable for any damages committed by any of its journalists.