The Threat of Online Publications to the Traditional Publishing Industry

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how do traditional publishers stay in business? In the same way opposing forces in nature result in a state of equilibrium, there is a single overarching mechanism in the publishing industry that is designed to buffer short-term market gains and resist long-term change.

This built-in mechanism in the media business consists of a multitude of socioeconomic factors. We will first explore the economics behind the publishing industry, which includes the horizontal integration of ownership and realizing specific market segmentation, such as textbooks. Then, we will scrutinize the social implications such as conventions, content censorship, and government regulation, and finally, delve in on a specific case of value-added books.

In assessing the economics of the media business, it is helpful to first examine the ways in which publishing companies are owned and financed. Broadly speaking, media systems can be owned by the state, by private corporations, or by a mixture of both, ...

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is operational, it then attracts new readership and advertisers and generates more revenue.

From a project valuation stand point, the online content has already been paid for; therefore web operations can earn additional profit while incurring negligible added cost. Companies integrate horizontal markets1 not only to achieve operational efficiency, but also to attract advertisers and readers with different demographic profiles. In that sense, the online-offline combination seems to achieve synergy and reinforce the traditional publisher's position in the market.

Market segmentation is another economic reason that traditional publishers stay afloat. Rather than becoming a ...

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