Friday 5th May: Traffic still dropping at Quartz despite paywall removal

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A year after removing its paywall, Quartz's traffic continues to drop

Since ungating its content, Quartz's site readership has dropped from an average of 3 million visitors per month in 2022 to 1.3 million visitors per month between January and March of this year, according to data from Comscore. Quartz also wouldn't share how many of the 25,000 paying subscribers it had last April still remain.

This caught my attention because it goes against everything you'd think would happen if you dropped a paywall. Surely opening access would equate to more sharing, more discussion and more traffic? Mark Stenberg breaks down some of the reasons here, including shifts in visibility from search and social platforms. But an exodus of around half the newsroom, a 'bumpy' platform migration and changing editorial strategy following last year's G/O Media acquisition is also playing a major part.

G/O Media's volume and page view-focused model is apparently clashing with Quartz's preference for meticulously-designed, in-depth reporting. No doubt Time - who also dropped their paywall last week - will be watching with interest.

What does practical AI look like for local media?

Some local media organisations have been benefitting from AI for years. But what does it look like in practice? In this second sample chapter from our report, Peter draws out some lessons from talking to a range of local media organisations, and discovers how important structure, layers and scale are for AI projects.

Most independent publishers grew their bottom line by an average of $50,000 in 2022

The median revenue for independent publishers is ticking up. Member publications of LION that have been operating for more than a year saw a median annual revenue of $130,000 — up from $125,000 at this time last year. It’s a modest increase, but it’s an increase nonetheless, especially considering that last year’s figure was up 38% from the year before.

How to build a media kit to make your podcast shine

This is an insightful piece about some of the things you should think about including in a media kit for your podcast. If you don't have one yet, make it a top priority! Even if the podcast is just part of your wider offering, having a few pages dedicated to key strengths and statistics - and why podcast listeners are your superfans - is essential. It can also help when approaching potential guests.

More from Media Voices

Read: AI in media: myths and misconceptions

Is AI a magic technology that will make all our jobs obsolete? Or will it be the silver bullet that ‘saves’ publishing? There are plenty of myths, misconceptions and exaggerations around the use of AI technology in media. I take a look at some of the biggest in this extract from our new report, Practical AI for Local Media.

Listen: Practical AI - Lessons from local media

Our special Practical AI podcast documentary explores how local media organisations have got started with AI projects, the benefits they’re seeing, the challenges they’ve faced and what advice they would give to other publishers looking to get into AI. This episode and our corresponding report have been made possible with the support of United Robots.