In news that will certainly be greeted with knowing smiles in the boardrooms of News, Fairfax and the ABC, NewMatilda.com announced today that it will be shutting up shop at the end of June.
Citing the obvious, costs are rising and ad revenues are hardly worth talking about, the fate of NewMatilda echoes difficulties experienced by Crikey not too long ago and although the business models are considerably different both cases highlight the problems now faced by New Media startups.
When Crikey editor Jonathan Green joined the ABC he claimed success in
“dragging Crikey to a position where it is taken seriously as part of the broad media landscape.”
however such success wasn’t as certain as the opportunity to be editor of the ABC’s Drum, the new analytical online offering from the publicly funded ABC. Simply put Crikey’s financial viability is a long way from the hundred of millions of taxpayer dollars funnelled into the ABC every year and that IS a consideration.
How does this relate to New Matilda? Well as the mainstream media players continue to extend their operations in the online space (The ABC’s Drum, News Ltd’s The Punch, Fairfax’s The National Times) the financial life support system for new media players becomes more stressed. New Matilda is a casualty, driven to the wall by decreasing advertising revenue and fixed operating costs.
Unfortunately New Matilda is unlikely to be the last independent voice lost as the online environment matures. Hopefully the tradition of independent voices finding a public forum will continue somewhere…
Curtains For Newmatilda.com | newmatilda.com.
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