Profitable Niche Publishing Business Models

Via TC, I discovered IBM released a report on how the they think the $550 billion global ad market might change in the coming years. The predictions look bleak for most ad agencies and traditional media gatekeepers, but good for niche publishers who have a solid stream of attention:

Murdoch May Make Wall Street Journal Free

An online-only subscription to the Wall Street Journal usually costs $99, and around 1 million people have judged that to be a reasonable price.  Look for some drastic shifts, though, as Rupert Murdoch intends to lower that first number and increase the second.

Zillow To Run Newspaper Real Estate Ads

Real estate site Zillow.com, which focuses on house price comparisons has entered a deal with the publishers of 282 newspapers to carry their real estate advertisements.

Martha Stewart Launches an Ad Network

Launching your own ad network is the rage right now. I read that this year is the year for launching your own social network and next year is the year for launching your own ad network. I overheard a startup that is making it easier for you to do that (hopefully we’ll get more on this in the next few weeks).