Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation plans to launch a content-led, paid-for news content aggregation platform that promises to create new digital revenue streams for its core print titles and third-party publishers as well, MediaWeek.co.uk reported today. The news aggregation platform plans to launch before the end of 2010.

While the project, under development for a year, is not being named yet, its involves content aggregation from News International's core print titles: The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and News of the World, along with content from third party publishers.

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Initially planned to be launched in November, the platform's release has been delayed, as deals with publishers and blue-chip advertisers are not yet finalised, according to Media Week. The service will harness all digital applications including the iPhone and iPad, and will also carry advertising and sponsorship opportunities.

Company executives have been in talks with many U.S. and UK publishers about a news consortium believed to be associated with this launch, according to Media Week.

The news content aggregation project is led by former managing director of thelondonpaper, Ian Clark along with the corporation's digital tech specialist, Johnny Kaldor.

Guardian News & Media Group's Open Platform data sharing initiative plans to go live this month, MediaWeek.co.uk reported. The initiative has been in its beta phase since its launch last year.

Staffers at the media house plan to officially launch the Open Platform initiative for its commercial audience, which includes media and creative agencies, on May 20. The platform facilitates customised application development for its commercial partners, while trading statistics and content from the news publisher for free, in return for carrying its advertising.

The venture allows potential partners to access the Guardian's database and download content for free, in a format that can be easily incorporated by other web applications.

Representing a "new area" of development for the advertising world, Adam Freeman, director of consumer media at GN&M told MediaWeek, "I can see major brands investing in it, including financial services, car brands and those which view digital as a core marketing platform." He further pointed out the advantages of the new platform to small and medium publishers, who "want great content" but can't "afford to produce it themselves".

Parade magazine is now selling ads on the Web sites of its partner newspapers as an alternative method of revenue making, MediaWeek reported.

Parade is an insert on weekend editions of newspapers across the United States. Having started distributing celebrity and game content to the carrier paper sites a year ago, this strategic initiative by the magazine to sell on its papers' Web sites is aimed at effectively transforming the Sunday newspaper supplement into an online ad network.

The new online ad partnership means that local papers can now get national ads, which wouldn't otherwise be available through ad networks or on their own, and the magazine gets a cut of the revenue for effective sale.

"As we push this content out, there's a cost for us, and as our digital footprint grows, we wanted to take advantage of that," Parade publisher Brett Wilson told MediaWeek.

Wilson said the new set-up is a "syndicated network - in the positive sense of the word," as Parade magazine customises ads around the branded content it syndicates. Relying on external sources for editorial content, the Parade's content strategy spans as a trend across print media.

Parade's sales strategy so far appears to be appealing to retailers and packaged goods providers looking to drive purchasing power, Ildi Pap Conrad, U.S. director of print investment, OMD, told MediaWeek.

The first annual World Newspaper Future & Change Study is a global research study about newspaper publishers' business strategies moving forward for the next five years, with the key objective to inspire newspaper executives to invest and innovate their business units and business practices, according to the latest SFN's report, Charting the Course for Newspapers.

The purpose of the study is to pinpoint the business and strategic challenges of the world's newspapers, and then to identify the publishers' strategies moving forward to turn the challenges into opportunities.

It has been said that the only reason we change the way we do things is because we change the way we look at things. And it's clear from an analysis of responses to the open-ended question, "What is the single most important change that has to be implemented in your newspaper over the next year?" that the majority of news organisations are taking a fresh look at the way things have been done and planning to make significant changes in the year ahead.

- Enthusiasm for Change

One of the key challenges in changing strategies from a "business as usual" newspaper company to a dynamic company that is developing new revenue-making strategies for now and the future, is managing the changes in the organisation and amongst the employees.