For more than a decade, publishers have relied on two primary revenue streams: advertising and paywalls. Ads brought in volume but became increasingly volatile as platforms like Meta and Google captured most of the market. Paywalls helped some major outlets stabilize revenue, but for many, they’ve also created barriers to readership and growth.
Neither model is going away. Ads will always have a role. Paywalls will always work for loyal audiences. But what publishers need now are supplemental revenue streams — ones that don’t cannibalize their existing business, but add to it.
Paywalls work best for the very top of the market — but leave huge swaths of publishers underserved.
This is where Real Big Deal comes in. Instead of asking readers to pay, brands pay to tell their stories through publishers. It’s not a replacement for existing revenue — it’s an additional stream that sits alongside paywalls and ads.
Here’s what makes it compelling:
Together, these create a healthier, more diversified revenue mix.
Paywalls alone won’t sustain every publisher. Ads alone certainly won’t. But when you add brand-funded content into the mix, suddenly you have a third leg to stand on — one that aligns incentives, keeps readers happy, and generates predictable, incremental revenue.
Real Big Deal isn’t here to replace your business model. It’s here to supplement it, giving publishers more ways to thrive in an industry that needs new answers.
