Thursday 23rd June: Media Voices at Cannes Lions 2022

June 23, 2022

Good morning! Today's newsletter is brought to you by Peter.

I'm writing this newsletter from the Press Centre at the Cannes Lions Festival. This is my first time at Cannes Lions and I've loved being able to be out and about again speaking to people about what they're hearing at this MASSIVE advertising jamboree.

There have been some clear themes developing - data and what you should and shouldn't be doing with it is huge. But equally people are talking a lot about broader societal issues around diversity and inclusion and sustainability.

In the first of two episodes from the Riviera, I spoke with James Florence, Head of Advertising Technology at Immediate Media, Brian Morrissey, Founder of The Rebooting newsletter and podcast, and Dominic Perkins, Managing Director of UK and Europe at Sovrn. Get yourself an Aperol Spritz and give it a listen.

Joshua Benton is asking if anybody can have a guess at what a digital news subscription might cost in 2072? Of course, he answers his own question - anyone who tells you they know what digital news will look like in 50 years is lying. But the Washington Post — with an owner rich enough to imagine a 50-year time horizon — says a subscription will still only cost you $50 a year.

Last year was the most financially successful for news weekly The Economist in more than five years. Profits were up on record revenue, primarily thanks to increased subscriptions. According to its annual report, The Economist Newspaper Ltd's adjusted operating profit for the year was up 11% to £46.4 million, its best performance since 2016's £47 million.

Snap Inc. co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel has endorsed Elon Musk's plans to turn Twitter into a "super app". The vision is for an an app that provides multiple services through one mobile interface, something that Spiegel would like to see with Snapchat. I can see the attraction of one app to rule them all, but maybe not if Elon's in charge.

This week's podcast

In this special episode of Media Voices, Chris, Peter and Esther comb through the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2022 to pick out the key findings for publishers. Listen now to explore why news avoidance is up and trust is down; the relief we felt that climate coverage is on top of everyone's agenda; how the news habits of younger generations are growing more distinct; and what the report's first ever chapter dedicated to email newsletters had to say.

Publishing is way behind other industries when it comes to technology consolidation. This episode, Affino CEO Markus Karlsson and TTG Media Product Manager Steve Hinds join us to talk about the benefits of systems consolidation, the challenges publishers face, and how they can get started.