Participatory journalism and new business models: the case of Minute Media

The media industry has changed dramatically in recent years due to the digital revolution and the rapid technological developments. The new communication landscape led to significant changes, including those in the business model of media companies. In conjunction with the global economic crisis that broke out in 2008 and the resulting recession, those new realities also led to significant changes in media. Many media organizations closed, while others tried to survive with layoffs and salary cuts. However, there are also cases of media outlets that took advantage of some of the developments in the new communication landscape and managed to create a successful business model. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the new communication landscape and one of its offsprings, participatory journalism, can offer a solution to the problem of the business model of media. Thus, we present, as a key study, Minute Media website group, which mainly covers sports events. Minute Media was first established in 2011, with fans in the role of journalists, creating journalistic content, and today it is a successful media group with offices around the world and more than 500 employees.