Thursday 4th April: The FT's 'mini-brand' strategy

April 04, 2024

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The FT's Kritasha Gupta: The power of niches, newsletters and audiences

The media face so many challenges that it is hard to focus on just one problem, Kritasha Gupta, head of business development at the Financial Times, tells

mediamakersmeet.com/the-fts-kritasha-gupta-the-power-of-niches-newsletters-and-audiences

This is a fascinating piece from Media Makers Meet's recent Barcelona conference featuring Kritasha Gupta, head of business development at the Financial Times. She talks about the mini-brands the FT has developed, which feature a newsletter, online content, and sometimes a podcast on topics from cryptocurrency, due diligence, Brexit, and climate change.

Going deep into certain topics, even with target audiences of less than 100 global executives, is a smart move that publishers of pretty much any shape and size can do.

What I’m curious about here is why the FT hasn’t looked at slicing up their subscription pricing as part of this. Their media reporting is excellent, but not frequent enough to justify the high overall FT subscription price, which gives me access to the other 99% of their content which, frankly, I’m just not interested in.

There has got to be a better way of monetising niches like this. Come debate in our community forum!

How publishers will need to change subscription policies due to Digital Markets Bill

A crackdown on "subscription traps" in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill has seen alterations that, publisher bodies say, better balances the rights of business and consumers.

pressgazette.co.uk/paywalls/how-publishers-will-need-to-change-subscription-policies-due-to-digital-markets-bill

Common sense has, for once, prevailed in the UK, and publishers will no longer be faced with the threat of having to process subscription cancellation requests sent via carrier pigeon. We’re getting a similar set of rules to those coming in over the pond where if you sign up online, you should be able to cancel online. Just a small reminder, though, that making cancellation easier actually leads to better retention.

Google Podcasts is gone — and so is my faith in Google

Google could have made podcasts awesome. Instead, it gave up on them.

www.theverge.com/2024/4/2/24118873/google-podcasts-shutdown-graveyard

The Verge’s media reporters are in a savage mood this week (this on Vice if you missed it yesterday). “The Podcasts app is just the latest product to go through a process I’ve come to call The Google Cycle,” writes David Pierce. “It always goes the same way: the company launches a new service…immediately seems to forget it exists, eventually launches a competitor out of some other part of the company, obviously begins to deprecate it and shift focus to the new competitor, and then, years later, finally shuts it down for real.”

The Wall Street Journal: how to develop long term relationships with young audiences

The Audiencers' Festival at The New York Times Building on March 15th brought together 150 digital publishing professionals to discuss everything from audience research to newsletters, engaging young audiences and maximizing on the value of registration.

theaudiencers.com/inspirations/the-wall-street-journal-how-to-develop-long-term-relationships-with-young-audiences

I’m not sure I’d want every Audiencers article written like this, but as a way of scanning down lots of case studies from the WSJ’s TikTok strategy, this is a neat way of seeing why a clip was successful and how the chances of success were maximised. They’ve also included some questions (and answers) from the audience at the event.

More from Media Voices

The Telegraph's Maire Bonheim and David Alexander on newsletters for different business goals

This week we speak to Head of Newsletters Maire Bonheim, and Deputy Head of Newsletters David Alexander, about the publisher's newsletter portfolio.

voices.media/the-telegraphs-maire-bonheim-and-david-alexander-on-newsletters-for-different-business-goals

Bridged Media’s Maanas Mediratta on opening up access to AI for publishers

Bridged Media CEO Maanas Mediratta explains why making it easier for publishers to access AI tools will help the whole publishing ecosystem.

voices.media/access-to-ai-for-publishers

LADbible Group's Jake Strong-Jones on the best use of social platforms

In this week's episode we hear from LADbible Group's Operations Lead Jake Strong-Jones on how the group's verticals make best use of social platforms.

voices.media/ladbible-groups-jake-strong-jones-on-the-best-use-of-social-platforms