The advent of blockchain and web3 solutions is currently reshaping the digital landscape. Micropayments can play an important role in this context by reducing costs, creating transparency and providing an unprecedented opportunity to establish a correlation between cost and consumption.
Especially at a time when public media is much criticised and consumption of public content is decreasing, scalable blockchain could deliver valuable cornerstones to renovate the media landscape.
Exploring blockchain and micropayments for public media
Public media have been facing a legitimisation crisis for quite some time in many European countries. A recent report by the Reuters Institute covering eight different countries finds that many citizens, especially among the younger population, no longer consume public media. The lead author of the report, Dr. Anne Schultz came to the following conclusion for the future of public media:
‘If the online performance of these news brands does not improve, public service media risk continued to decline and ultimately irrelevance to much of the public.’
As a result of this, the financing model of media institutions, which are financed by the public through mandatory fees or taxes, is coming under criticism. Moreover, much of the content that public media produce falls into the entertainment or sports segment, which is not consumed by a large part of the public and offers no value for the democratic interest of the public.
Blockchain and micropayments offer many ways to create solutions for this complex of problems that are worth considering when shaping the future of public media.
How blockchain infrastructure can improve our media landscape
Web3 technology offers the possibility to democratise our media in many areas. A much-discussed topic in this context is the autonomy that users have over their data.
This handling of user data is also a premise in the redesign of public media through blockchain, which is exemplified here. In this case, however, user data can be shared with the respective media institutions to give them feedback on content use. The possible pay-as-you-go model should also be mentioned in this context, which provides content creators with direct financial feedback.
Pay-per-use for public media
The pay-as-you-go or pay-per-minute model has the potential to revolutionise public media by introducing a more flexible and sustainable approach. In traditional public media, funding often relies on taxes, grants, or fixed subscription fees, which can be limiting and do not reflect the individual usage of citizens.
With a pay-as-you-go model, users are charged based on their actual consumption of content, ensuring that they only pay for what they use. This approach encourages accountability and efficiency, as public media organisations are incentivised to produce high-quality, engaging content to attract and retain users. It also empowers users by giving them control over their spending.
The BSV blockchain is the only globally scaling blockchain for micropayments.
Using blockchains in the public domain has the advantage of eliminating security risks, transparency, and making even contributions of a fraction of a cent cost-efficient and sustainable. Micropayments, however, are a feature that only very few blockchains can provide via layer one, as the BSV blockchain does.
Currently, the cost of a transaction is about $0.000003, making on-chain transaction costs lower than any other blockchain. Over the main net, the maximum throughput is about 10000 transactions per second. As the BSV blockchain will scale even more efficiently in the future, it’s the only blockchain that is suitable for businesses and governments. This is also helped by the fact that the BSV blockchain is designed to function within existing regulations.