How affiliate marketing generates revenue

Collaborative activities to generate revenue

The Guardian has officially launched The Filter, a site described as offering “independent product reviews, trusted buying advice and sustainable shopping ideas,” after a months-long trial period. The Guardian says The Filter showcases the best consumer articles, reviews, and product recommendations that are completely independent.

According to current trends shown in the WAN-IFRA report, most news organizations worldwide believe that increasing revenue from their readers, product development, event organization, and other revenue streams is the model that news organizations are and will continue to pursue. Of course, each organization needs to find its own core business direction.

This also shows that any future for journalism will be closely linked to revenue. Only with economic stability can journalism survive and develop sustainably. And it can be predicted that although most of journalism in general still relies heavily on digital advertising revenue, diversifying revenue sources is inevitable in the future.

Returning to the Guardian's statement, it emphasizes that all articles are free, written by expertly selected writers who research and test products in real-world scenarios, and no advertisers or retailers are paid to be included in the articles. The Guardian earns a small commission if someone clicks on a link on one of the pages and goes on to make a purchase or sign up for a service.

Like many other publishers, they are using Skimlinks, a tool that places tracking code into links for publishers to use so that purchases can be accurately recorded. They are also using the Amazon Associates program for that website's links. Below the author's name is the text: “The Guardian’s press is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.” The affiliate activity generates revenue, “based on the trust we place in the brand.”

Of course, beyond The Guardian, publishers have developed e-commerce/affiliate services over the past few years, including The New York Times and Mail Online. The Independent is also among them, describing e-commerce as one of five key strategic growth pillars and recently revealing that revenue from this segment has increased by 26%, with highlights including Black Friday and travel content. E-commerce is also part of a revenue diversification strategy aimed at avoiding reliance on advertising by media conglomerate Reach, which says these areas are seeing “promising growth.”

The latest trends and forecasts report from the Reuters Institute for Journalism Studies, published in January of this year, also listed e-commerce as the fifth most important revenue source for news publishers in 2024. E-commerce typically involves websites selling products themselves, while affiliate marketing is when websites promote goods from other retailers and earn a commission on clicks.

How do affiliate links generate revenue? (Figure 1) — The link is in the publishing sub-section of Znews.

Partnering with businesses to bring products to newspaper readers?

In Vietnam, this issue has been addressed by several media outlets such as Vnexpress and Thanh Nien Newspaper, which have reviewed real estate, technology, cars, etc. Many media outlets also review hospitals and clinics, but mostly in the form of a small feature or a series of articles. Editor-in-Chief Nguyen Van Ba shared that Vietnamnet Newspaper has not yet been able to do this because this method is linked to e-commerce and is quite complex. His biggest concern is the significant difference in psychology between newspaper readers and shoppers in Vietnam.

While acknowledging that The Guardian's idea is excellent, Mr. Nguyen Ba Kien, Editor-in-Chief of Vietimes magazine, believes it's only suitable for large media outlets or those with a large readership. He argues that this is a form of media collaboration for sales, but the key is maintaining independence and objectivity in the collaboration and product evaluation. Of course, this trend isn't yet prominent in Vietnam, partly because it relies on human resources, and customer service departments haven't received significant investment.

Furthermore, as journalist Nguyen Hoang Nhat – Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Vietnamplus online newspaper (Vietnam News Agency) – noted, many newspapers around the world have implemented this approach, but it hasn't become a trend in Vietnam because its practical implementation is not easy. This is partly due to the strong growth of current online platforms, which necessitate less media coverage, and partly because the conversion rate from readers to buyers is very low. Mr. Nhat also mentioned several media outlets that have implemented this method, including Vnexpress and Tri Thuc Magazine (Znews.vn)…

Sharing their perspective on this issue, a representative from Tri Thuc Magazine (Znews.vn) – one of the media outlets that has been using this approach for many years – stated that the most important thing is to maintain independence, objectivity, and a clear separation between opinions and reviews and pure advertising to build trust with readers. Product analysis and evaluation articles are presented in various formats such as text, images, videos, and graphics. These articles clearly analyze the product's strengths and weaknesses, comparing it to similar products. For example, the Publishing section of Tri Thuc features many objective reviews of good books. At the end of each article, there is a link to the book being displayed in the online bookstore, allowing the public to easily purchase it if they find it suitable and are satisfied with its quality.

Tri Thức also encourages readers to submit their own book reviews for the editorial team to review and publish, as indicated at the end of each book review: “If you've read a good book, please send your review to Tri Thức – Znews. If you've read a great book and want to share your feelings and reasons why others should read it, please write a review and send it to us. Tri Thức - Znews has opened a section called “The Book I Read,” a forum for sharing book reviews submitted by readers via email: books@znews.vn. The review should include a photo of the book, the author's name, and a phone number. Thank you.”

With this approach, Tri Thuc has gained many reliable partners, including publishers, book distributors, and e-commerce platforms, who can collaborate to sell products and are also willing to book advertising in other suitable categories because , "the core principle is that we respect objective reviews from the public, respect the public and their experiences..." - a representative from Tri Thuc stated.

It can be said that the issue of increasing revenue is always a hot topic for self-sufficient news organizations, and one way to increase revenue is through partnerships and e-commerce, which is a viable but not easy path. This was assessed by Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam: “The current advertising trend is shifting to the digital space, and e-commerce sales methods are breaking down the traditional commercial structure. There are now many other ways to sell goods without necessarily going through news agencies. Businesses have been and are looking for more effective advertising methods. Brands are very concerned about the actual cost of converting a customer and generating an order at the lowest possible level. We cannot adapt quickly enough, nor can we have a social media mechanism; we have to adapt to the current situation.”

With a certain readership and subscriber base, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Lam believes that media organizations can leverage their resources to become channels for linking and distributing other services that do not conflict with journalistic activities. “We can collaborate with businesses to bring products to newspaper readers. This will require those involved in the economic aspects of journalism to not only create content but also have knowledge of e-commerce, advertising, and trends in revenue streams and cash flow in cyberspace…”, the leader of the Ministry of Information and Communications once affirmed.

Collaborative activities to generate revenue

Partnering with businesses to bring products to newspaper readers?

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