Monetizing media in 2025: training class by Mediabaza Chernivtsi

To adapt to new challenges in the media field and turn content-making into a stable source of income, one needs to keep monetization in mind. Valeriy Harmash, head of the NGO Maye Sens spoke about how to go about monetization and what are the ways to monetize media in 2025 during an online training class at the Institute of Mass Information hub Mediabaza Chernivtsi.

Valeriy Harmash. Photo by Nakypilo

Valeriy Harmash highlighted the following 2025 media trends:

• A change in audience behavior. Short-form content and mobile format are becoming increasingly popular.
• Content personalization (recommendation algorithms, AI for content personalization).
• The growing influence of digital platforms and social media.
• Community-driven approach (active audience engagement).

Banner and native advertising remain important.

“Banner advertising is not going anywhere, it will be popular. It provides easy leads, being the cheapest way to advertise your work or organization. Native advertising is for more sophisticated clients and readers who do not want to use straightforward advertising. In terms of promotion, it will most likely be about product placement or sponsorships. There is also a trend coming from the EU and the US – affiliate marketing. This is an online promotion method in which webmasters direct traffic to the seller’s website for a fee,” says Valeriy Harmash.

Events and digital product

Other monetization opportunities include webinars, conferences, online courses, merchandise, and digital products (e.g. ebooks, guides, studies). Users also express interest in club meetings with paid access.

“With the Covid and the full-scale invasion, people feel a need for meetings, for communication not just online but also in person. Events will affect monetization if a media outlet organizes interesting meetings,” summarizes Valeriy Harmash.

Grants

Valeriy Harmash says that the number of grant applications is growing, competition is on the rise, and quality control is very high. “At the same time, for many projects the US support policy is unclear. Nobody knows what it will be like after 90 days. If grant support is extended, it will go to the really high-quality projects that will be thoroughly checked. This needs to be taken into account in the future and media outlets should writee really high-quality applications,” the trainer noted.

Subscriptions and paid access

Valeriy Harmash notes that despite the skeptical attitude towards paywall (subscription), this monetization method is promising for media outlets' development. For isntance, this method is being actively used by Forbes and NV.

“Paid access is about building a community. Given that we're in the third year of the war, most Ukrainians have a built-in habit to pay, help, donate. People realize that for something to work well you have to pay for it. This is a growing market. While subscriptions to print outlets such as newspapers are dropping, then digital products continue to grow. Exclusive content and access to additional services encourage users to make a paid subscription,” Harmash adds.

The freemium model also remains important: some content is available for free, while premium content is provided only to subscribers.