Good morning! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Esther. Gremlins got in and broke the episode link yesterday so apologies - the one below is now correct.

Publishers try sending news by text — www.wsj.com

Many publishers have experimented with texting the news in the past, and the format has seen a resurgence during the coronavirus crisis as a way of providing a more immediate and interactive experience.

This piece looks at three publishers' texting efforts - BuzzFeed News, The Arizona Republic, and Mission Local - and how effective it has been both in provoking responses, and in Mission Local's case, actually developing a paid-for monthly service.

It's not exactly a world-changing idea, and certainly not one that will have a direct impact on a publisher's bottom line, but these use cases are interesting examples of deepening reader engagement and opening another line of communication.

Inside Minute Media’s Bold Ambitions as a Tech/Publishing Company — www.foliomag.com

Minute Media not only owns and operates a growing portfolio with seven titles, but has also built out a tech infrastructure which it also offers as a B2B solution for publishing partners. President and CRO Rich Routman talks to Folio: about Minute Media's ascent as a technology and media company and where publishing should go from here. We spoke to founder Asaf Peled about this back in November.

Small changes, big impact: how The Local tweaked its way to 11,000 new paying members — medium.com

Reader surveys, explanatory articles and transparent membership messaging were just some of the tactics that helped treble visitors and increase paying members by 70% in three months to The Local Europe. This is a great case study with a comprehensive background and plenty of practical tips for tweaks that make a big difference.

Why brands aren't running ads on Black Lives Matter content — www.thedrum.com

This is such an important issue, and this piece discusses some of the solutions as well as the problems. "It's all well and good posting a black square on your social media but if you're directing your spend away from the very people that are telling these stories it can seem like a hollow pledge."

Podcast:

Wessenden Marketing's Jim Bilton on how the pandemic has impacted newspaper and magazine retail — voices.media

Jim tells us about how the pandemic has impacted newspaper and magazine retail, about who might be left standing after the dust settles and how they will need to reboot their distribution strategies.

Thank you to all our Ko-fi backers! — ko-fi.com

We've already covered the costs of recording for the year thanks to your donations. Thank you so much - and if you still feel like kicking in to buy us some new mics or covering the cost of our editing software, then please do go ahead!

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