Monday 10th May: Nobody wants cross-app tracking, not even your mum

Happy Monday! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Chris.

Only 4% of the public in the US have opted in to cross-app tracking, following the deployment of the latest iOS update. That is a low number. As numbers go, there are few lower. It's bad news for platforms like Snapchat and Facebook, which are set to be the worst hit by those changes - and the fact that 12% of people worldwide are opting in isn't much better. Low numbers, Barry White low numbers.

Still, these platforms have been preparing for the change for a while, and have other tools in place that will mitigate will the hit. What's interesting, as Joshua Benton points out in this piece for Nieman Lab, is what that number implies about users' approach to their own data and publishers' position after the fact:

"In the short term, there’ll probably be a revenue hit; news sites fill ad space with targeted ads too, and those will now be a little worse. In the longer term, this increases the chance there’ll be a cleansing flood of adtech middlemen, which is probably a necessary condition for any eventual recovery in publisher-sold advertising."

My latest for The Drum, looking at the harsh realities of ad-supported news channels. Whether it's right-wing and "anti-woke" like GB News 🙄 or a left leaning new outlet, it's vanishingly unlikely that ads alone can support new rolling news channels.

Prachatai - which means "free people" in Thai - is looking into the country's ruling regime by investigating human rights abuses and political disappearances as well as frequently overlooked and marginalized communities. It's public service journalism to aspire to.

This first-hand account of how hard it's been to cover the pandemic is pretty harrowing - both in the specific terms and what it implies for journalists who have to wade into sensitive topics and deal with burnout.

This week's episode:

This week Mental Floss Editor in Chief Erin McCarthy tells us about how its celebrating its 20th anniversary, how the magazine started in a university dorm room, its mission to help people feel smarter, and how the team decides what to cover.

We're looking to establish a regular meetup (virtual at first, but hopefully face-to-face in the future) for people working on podcasting in publishing companies to come together and share tips, learnings, and help each other with challenges. Our first group call is on Wednesday 26th May at 16.00 BST - learn more and RSVP on this link!