Friday 25th September: The world's on fire - do audiences still care?

September 25, 2020

Good weekend eve! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Chris.

Everything is stressful at the moment. That's the unfortunate reality of 2020; that there are almost too many fires for us to concentrate on them all. As a result it's only natural to wonder if the sheer number of flames is leading audiences to take their eyes off the bigger picture, or to focus on one issue to the exclusion of another. It's a worry that's lent some credence by the fact that one in five people is an active news avoider - does it not then follow that some people will choose to ignore, say, climate change-related news in favour of staying abreast of coronavirus coverage?

Not according to this (slightly) encouraging article from Taboola's newsroom engagement manager Fran Berkman, which states: "The weekly totals [of climate-related content] remained relatively similar after coronavirus took over the news. We saw a range of 30 million to 50 million page views per week about climate change remain steady. If you’re an audience growth strategist for a news website, your ears should be perking up right now."

And since only around 2 - 3% of news articles currently published are climate change related, that means there's a huge opportunity there for publishers who are well placed to take advantage of it. In unrelated news, The Telegraph's head of content Chris Evans spitefully canned a planned launch of a climate change related section at the paper that had consumed weeks' of planning for around a dozen people. Excellent work, Evans, superb decision.

In related news, The Economist has managed to significantly grow its subscriber and engagement numbers in the U.S. with a newfound focus on regular, primarily visual coverage of the upcoming election. The Economist staff I know are among the first to note that they're not a household name there yet - so hopefully this might change that.

Now this is hopeful. Defector - the staff-owned site started after the diaspora from Deadspin - seems to be a success: "Editor in Chief Tom Ley told me that the site was expected to hit 30,000 paying subscribers on Monday, which at the base rate would amount to over $2 million a year." For a subscription-based site with an editorial staff of 20, that looks very promising indeed.

Make it stop. Oh god, make it stop. As this saga rumbles on with lies and recriminations being thrown around in Beijing and Washington, spare a thought for newsroom TikTok teams, whose future looks even less certain than ever.

This week's episode:

This week, we hear from Tobi Oredein, Co-Founder and CEO of Black Ballad, a UK-based lifestyle platform for Black British women. She talked about what drove her to found the site, why they decided to launch memberships ahead of the curve in 2016, and the impact of their recent HuffPost takeover.

The latest in our mini series is now live. History Extra's Dave Musgrove shares his secrets to success, including giving the podcast time to grow and find its unique voice.