3 Startups Keeping the Media Alive

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By: Mike Bush

Sure, it may feel like a bit from a Monty Python movie, but the reality surrounding the so-called “death of the media” is maybe not as bleak as one might be persuaded to believe.

via GIPHY

Slowly but surely, we are seeing a variety of new media business models start to trickle out, with companies like Blendle, Texture, and AdBlock Plus (really!) finding ways to help the media monetize its content.

Witness this tweet:

Christopher Mims ‏@mims May 9

How to (really) make America great again: Transform it through the lessons of Google and other tech companies

http://www.wsj.com/articles/yelp-google-hold-pointers-to-fix-governments-1462766463

Blendle is gaining traction and adoption with the mainstream media. It may have shown up elsewhere, but this is the first time I’ve seen a reporter point out his or her work on Blendle. For those who aren’t familiar, Blendle lets its users pay per article. Since we first covered the company in 2014, Blendle has added a “e” to their name, but more importantly built up a solid user base (they currently have more than 25k people on the waitlist to join!).

In addition, Texture is starting to find its way. This service offers a super-subscription to magazines (one low price for dozens of titles), direct to a user’s tablet. I caught their ad on a podcast recently, and one of their key differentiators seems to be curation: they’ll recommend articles from across their library based on what you tend to read.

And just recently, AdBlock Plus, a company that some folks have accused of trying to kill the media, rolled out a new way for the media to make up some or all of the revenue lost to blocked ads. (Note: Optimal is doing something very similar for iPhone users, but giving users more ability to control their spend.)

All of this is good for the media industry. The user experience has suffered in the past few years, as interstitial ads, autoplay videos (with the sound on!), and other significant interruptions have become commonplace. It’s great to see that there are companies promoting a better user experience, while still trying to keep food on the table for big and small publishers alike.

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About the Author

Mike Bush is a PR and Marketing freelancer with more than a dozen years of experience in the field. Find him on and connect Twitter @mikebush or at www.mikebush.nyc.

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