Tuesday 29th September: Publish less to publish better

September 29, 2020

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

A new report from Reuters looks at how eight legacy local and regional newspapers around Europe have adapted their editorial and business strategies to remain sustainable in the digital media environment. It looks at a number of smaller, less well-known organisations across France, Germany and the UK.

One of its key findings is that "in shifting their emphasis to paid-content models, news organisations are redirecting their focus from producing a consistent stream of breaking, high-traffic news to more in-depth, localised approaches". Although most of the outlets still get the majority of their revenues from print, they are finally getting there with wider diversification.

There's long been a concern that the shift towards subscriptions and reader revenue only favours the big players. These publishers are out to prove that they can not only survive, but thrive in local media.

Reach has bounced back from a disastrous start to 2020. After profits dived in the first half of the year, digital advertising has had a strong recovery in the third quarter, assisted by increased customer engagement and loyalty – showing a bright spot amid a tough year for publishers.

Simon Brew's Kickstarter is going great guns, and he's promised if the campaign reaches £40k to watch Cats dressed as a cat. This magazine is continuing to put out brilliant issues (if you haven't seen the Brian Blessed cover, now's your chance!) despite ad revenue drying up and the movie world in disarray. But Brew believes "print is worth fighting for."

One for you product nerds! The News Product Alliance has launched, offering a community for people who work in news product management. The group hopes to provide support and resources for people in product roles all around the world, and in doing so, help people from traditionally marginalised communities move up in their newsrooms.

This week's podcast:

Director at Cognitive Publishing Roy Rowlands on working in a family publishing business with a trillion-pound audience, going all-digital with their B2B titles, and the benefits of being in Manchester. He also outlines how they've adapted in lockdown, including the reasons behind their decision not to go virtual with events.

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