Thursday 8th April: Lessons in refining the subscriber journey from newsrooms in Asia

April 08, 2021

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

This article from the Global Investigative Journalism Network is a prime example of why it's more important than every to look beyond the borders of the US and Europe for examples of news innovation. For one thing, we see significant parallel evolution between the newsrooms we're more familiar with and those in Bangladesh and Indonesia.

The panel cited in the discussion looked to outlets like De Correspondent for advice on creating a subscriber journey, before refining it to better match the needs of their own audience. Meanwhile, there are entirely new methods of raising funds that have rarely if ever been tried in the UK, US, or Europe, including this one which I love:

"In 2014, as part of their effort to innovate in relation to revenue, Malaysiakini raised $400,000 for a new building by selling bricks to their well-wishers, each priced at around $250. Their new office has a wall of supporters, built with those bricks, showing the names of donors." What an amazing way to get people to buy into literally creating a newsroom.

Everything old is new again. For the first time, the nonprofit newsroom at The Marshall Project is offering readers the opportunity to "mail this story to your loved one in prison." This might say more about the US prison industrial complex than news, but it's great to see a news project recognise the need to provide information to everyone.

I'm a pessimist, so any good news about something I'm invested in is instantly suspect to me. That said, Tom Webster makes a good case here that the conversion of monthly podcast listeners to weekly is indicative of an industry with serious growth potential (if a few roadblocks). Good news for publishers with huge podcast suites.

Important as national news is, it's not the link to local communities that regional newsrooms are. Frankly we've given up on expecting any sizeable investment from the bigger regional publishers, so this look at indies operating in local news is a fascinating little read.

Today's throwback:

One from our Conversations archive that only increases in relevance with the demise of the third-party cookie: how are publishers rediscovering their strength when it comes to owning their audienced?

We're putting the finishing touches to our virtual awards ceremony, which is just two weeks away. It's free to register for a ticket, so why not sign up and have a peek? It could be your podcast winning next year...