Fortune CEO says these media companies are leading the industry's future

Although parts of the media business are in a rut, Fortune CEO Alan Murray sees a silver lining: Pay-to-play is the “future for media,” he told FOX Business.

“It’s been a tough time in the media business,” said Murray to Stuart Varney on Monday.  “But you know where you’ve seen some good news is in the publications that are turning away from advertising where Google and Facebook dominate and more towards subscriptions.”

Changing consumer demands have led to some of the most well-established publications being forced to adjust their business strategy or be booted out of the market, including BuzzFeed, Gannett and The New York Daily News, which have slashed parts of their workforce to stay afloat.

However, Murray said, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post are “doing pretty well” because they are focusing more on a direct relationship with their subscribers over advertisers.

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The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have each accumulated over 1 million digital-only subscriptions as of October 2017, according to Statista.

What more, nearly 70 percent of The New York Times’ subscribers were solely digital while the Wall Street Journal’s share was 50 percent.

Murray added that in the magazine industry Harvard Business Review and The Economist are thriving.