We take a look at news aggregators in the latest of a series exploring different ways to make journalism pay. Previous articles have looked at membership, philanthropy, crowdfunding and newsletter strategies for newsrooms and individual journalists.

Although news aggregation is one of the oldest services offered by the consumer internet, the decision on whether to join a news aggregator is not always straightforward for publishers. To what extent does the aggregator’s set up mean that the reader relationship is with the platform over the publisher? How much value do these extra eyeballs bring to a publisher’s bottom line? Will it entail a big technical investment to make the content work on a given platform?

The answers to these questions in large part depend on how each aggregator’s philosophy and business model dovetails with the publisher’s own goals. The large exposure provided by news aggregators from household names like Apple might work well for some, whereas  aggregators that pay publishers to licence their content or drive traffic back to their site might appeal more to others.