Tuesday 12th May: Publishers respond to Facebook News 6 months in

May 12, 2020

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

In news that will shock absolutely nobody, there is 'not much to get excited about yet' with Facebook's dedicated 'News' tab. The tech giant claims to have 'millions' of people using the tab (my eyebrows are raised as it's not even available to all US users yet), but with no way to distinguish News referrals from other newsfeed referrals, it's impossible to tell what impact the tab is having. My favourite quote from an unnamed publisher: “When you don’t know how many people are using it, and what they’re doing, it’s like, ‘What’s the point? There are more pressing things to worry about.”

Some titles have reduced or cut print entirely, but not InStyle. The Meredith Corp.-owned magazine is continuing to publish 12 issues a year, and this piece looks at how the team are overcoming production issues to get each issue done.

Key findings from Marfeel's 'The Big Publisher Survey of 2020', including some fascinating insights on how publisher growth strategies change as audience size grows.

A brilliant overview of Stylist's rapid digital transformation from this week's podcast guest Colin Morrison, (including a detailed backstory), and what their leap to 3.5m uniques during lockdown means for their place in the market.

Podcast:

This week Colin Morrison, founder of Flashes & Flames, takes us through his path into the industry, what makes for smart media analysis, and who will be the big winners and losers from the coronavirus crisis.

And finally...

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