The new German start-up Niiu will soon launch their interpretation of a modern newspaper. Niiu readers have the possibility to select the content section of their choice. They prefer for instance the front page of The New York Times, the politics section of Tagesspiegel combined with the economic section of Handelsblatt business and select no sports at all. By using print-on-demand technology Niiu will create a unique paper version and deliver that to your doorstep. Thereby they try hold on to the romantic feeling of paper, an experience that remains important for many readers. Users pay via a flexible credit system which results in a prices between € 1,20 and € 1,80 per newspaper. Next to this revenue stream, advertisers will pay a higher price per ad due to the fact that they can be better targeted towards the reader’s interests. A part of the income will be redirected to the different news content providers that partner with Niiu. 
The traditional news sector is focused at value creation for the publishers: a one-size-fits-all newspaper at a fixed price that can be easily printed and distributed. In contrast the internet news business is aimed towards the user. Readers aren’t bounded to long-term subscription models with one content-provider but often hop from one news source to the other. Tools like RSS-readers help people to aggregate the content from the brands they like. Raising Pay-walls and blocking access to search engines doesn’t seem to be the right answer for classic news providers. We will have to see if Niiu manages to find a new niche within the news sector. But this unique businesses model that combines customized news with the classic paper experience looks already very promising.
Niiu.de, unique personalised newspapers printed on paper
Taatu and Virtua Gym on Pitcharena.com
Following our previous post on wantz.it and tweetag, two other social applications that presented during Pitch Arena were Taatu and Virtua Gym. For these two ventures we also briefly described their business model. We didn’t go in depth, but mapping out the four social applications gaves us the possibility to quickly compare them with each other. Taatu is already active for several years and relies on a more complex business model than Virtua Gym.
Taatu
Taatu relies on two big revenue loops in their business system. First of all they offer a 3D chat experience to their user base, an active crowd of youngsters. The attention of this group is sold to advertisers who can create branded content and events inside the 3D world of Taatu. Another stream of revenue comes from many small micro-payments inside their virtual world. Users can buy virtual items that will extend their community experience. Also, the users of taatu can create goods that others can buy, which leads to a virtual economy. Different to other virtual economies, the virtual currency can’t be exchanged to dollars. Money can therefore only be transferred from the users to Taatu company.
Virtua Gym
During their 8 minute pitch shown below, the two brothers behind Virtua Gym describe the different business models that they are using. Since they are still in a very early stage, it difficult to determine which part of their business concept will become their most important revenue stream. Once they have built up their service towards gym users, they will have an interesting user base to sell to niche advertisers.
This leads to a typical free advertising based business model where the basic service is offered for free in exchange for advertising. Many online services try to rely on this business concept but only a few of them manage to become sustainable. A large user base, even in a niche topic is vital to attract large advertisers. Therefor Virtua Gym is working to add an experience on top of their service where users can have an off-line but real-time sport competition against other people.
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