You’re reading the My News Biz newsletter, which I will be sending you every other Thursday. My goal is to help you and other digital media entrepreneurs to find a viable business model that works for you. If you were forwarded this email, you can sign up here. Credibility, quality find a market in EcuadorGK has survived and thrived with a model of in-depth story-telling
You’re reading the My News Biz newsletter. My goal is to help digital media entrepreneurs find viable business models. (There’s a bonus at the end of this post for Spanish speakers: Abajo: Un bono sobre liderazgo en la redacción.) Isabela Ponce and José María León met on Twitter more than a decade ago when it was still “a nice place where you could meet people,” Isabela recalls. From that meeting, they began to exchange ideas and collaborate. What emerged from this partnership in 2011 was what became GK. They declare their mission (in Spanish) to be “to change society, set the media agenda, and make the world a better place.” They do this by producing “in-depth journalism with social impact.”
They seem to be achieving their goals. They have won numerous national and international journalism awards (see link above). The independent news outlet now has 20 employees and a monthly audience of 2 million in a country whose population is 18 million
A revolutionary ideaPonce and León both were news media veterans. She worked for a large daily. He had the idea of creating a kind of collective citizen blog. Eventually they found common ground. “There were many people that wanted to talk about things that were not mentioned in traditional media, such as abortion, same same-sex marriage, drugs,” she said. “So when it started, it was very revolutionary, and it was basically why I came to GK.” They received some grants, enough money that they could both quit their jobs in 2014. The turning point. They successfully applied to participate in a media accelerator run by the Media Factory in Buenos Aires. GK (then known as GKillCity) was one of three startups chosen from among 115 applicants to receive $75,000 in investment, plus four months of training in Buenos Aires. The goal: make a sustainable business out of their media operation. Intensive weeks and monthsThe investors were Nxtplabs, Media Development Investment Fund and North Base Media. The Media Factory’s Mariano Blejman was supported by a fellowship from the International Center for Journalists. I spent two weeks working with the teams on business models and revenue sources. Ponce recalled, “Even though there were months of workshops and conversations, it takes time to understand and to realize why you need to consider it as a business.” An obstacle she faced was “this idea that journalists shouldn't manage money or journalists shouldn't mess with advertisers.”
A new business ideaThese days Ponce, GK’s editorial director, is past that. But a year after the Media Factory, GK was struggling. Advertising and sponsorship models that worked for others didn’t seem to work for them. One day León, the CEO, was doing a sales presentation to a group of business people. “He talked about what we do — in-depth journalism and very high quality content,” Ponce said. He showed them a lot of the new multimedia and digital tools GK was using. “After that meeting, someone called me from one of those companies and said, ‘I really like your quality. How can I have that in my brand?’ “This is how we started what we called Editorial Services,” Ponce said. They created content for clients, applying their writing, interviewing, and multimedia production skills. Over time this service evolved into GK Studio, which has been generating half their revenue.
HeadwindsThe next biggest revenue source has been grants, at 27% of the total. Their School (Escuela GK) and GK Content each brought in 9%, advertising 5%, and audience contributions less than 1%. GK’s investigative work sometimes costs them advertisers but enhances their reputation for credibility and trustworthiness, Ponce said. A perfect storm. A series of uncontrollable events, starting in 2020, has made it tough to run an independent media outlet in Ecuador.
Data driven“All of this is hard for a citizen, but as a journalist it’s almost triple worse,” Ponce said. “You have to put in twice as much time, you have to worry about safety, and it has been very rough for more than a year.” I asked her if she would do this all again, knowing what she knows now about the difficulties of being an entrepreneur and being an independent journalist. “I would still do it,” she said, “but I would do it differently.” For example, she wishes that they had established key performance indicators (KPIs) from the beginning. “Measuring everything, reporting everything, tracking everything. We started doing that about five years ago, and things have improved a lot.” Voice of experienceThey had to let some people go. But with a smaller team they ended 2023 better traffic wise and strategy wise, she said. Data helps them “make hard decisions, to think about what’s best for the organization. That's what I would have wanted to learn before.” “If I had to give some piece of advice to someone who wants to start a project, it’s that it requires a lot of energy. Because when you like a project like we do, you want to see it grow. “You know, we were two people at the start, and now we're 20. Despite all the problems, I really feel proud about this. I know I could have done much better and made fewer mistakes. But in the end it's something that pays off, you know, like spirit, for me.”
A continuación, un bono sobre liderazgo (A leadership bonus for Spanish speakers): Liderazgo 1: No tomes nada personalmente Liderazgo 2: Sé impecable con tus palabras Liderazgo 3: El legado de una leyenda, Marty Baron You're currently a free subscriber to My News Biz. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Credibility, quality find a market in Ecuador
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