Debbie says it's worth a read but he's still delusional about revenue:
http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/04/the-economists-tom-standage-on-digital-strategy-and-the-limits-of-a-model-based-on-advertising/
Sounds like he understands that digital advertising revenue isn't going to match the print heydays. Internet advertising is ailing, maybe not for Google, but it's been slowly dawning that a new way to monetize has to be found. Free is not a business model anymore. LockerGnome rolled out a patron system and is making about $5k per month from that system, not getting rich and that's as far as he's gotten in like two years of effort. https://www.patreon.com/user.php?v=ChrisPirillo
Moving to apps seems to be a defensive trend against Google. I'm thinking of moving there, too. Makes your site a destination without using Google or a browser as the gateway. Better control of the user experience, convenience and all that. Yelp and whatnot aggressively almost forcing the app download.