Wednesday 21st April: MailOnline vs. Google in battle for search supremacy

April 21, 2021

Happy Publisher Podcast Awards '21 day! This morning's roundup is brought to you by Chris.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water... the fight between publisher and platform has risen from the deep again. This time, MailOnline is in the process of suing Google for allegedly demoting it in search results. Given that the Mail is using its racist coverage of Meghan Markle as something that's been demoted you'd have thought they'd have been quiet about the whole thing, but there you go.

"In the lawsuit, filed in New York and described as “worthless” by Google, MailOnline alleges it is being punished by Google News’ algorithm after attempting to reduce its reliance on Google’s separate tools for selling online advertising."

It's a situation where it's hard to pick a side to root for. On the one hand Google is undeniably opaque when it comes to what actually works in search, and controls too great a proportion of the ad market. On the other hand MailOnline is... MailOnline.

Between Clubhouse, voice notes and Facebook's Discord competitor that Esther spoke about in yesterday's newsletter, social audio is officially A Thing. Now The Drum’s social media executive Amy Houston looks at what is likely to follow.

Penske Media, the publisher of magazines like Rolling Stone, Billboard and Variety, agreed to acquire a 50% stake in South by Southwest, the famed tech, music and movie festival. As you'd expect, the event has been all but wiped out by Covid - so it's an interesting gamble for Penske Media.

We discussed the many, many, many potential pitfalls of an 'Instagram for under-13s' as planned by Facebook in our final episode before the Easter break. Now a panel of experts have weighed in, arguing that "Facebook isn’t ready to introduce and oversee an app that could have such a powerful influence over young children."

This week's episode:

This week, we hear from The Wall Street Journal’s Editor of Live Journalism and Special Content Kim Last. She talks about the role of live journalism at the publication, how they adapted when the pandemic hit, and what they are doing to bring events and networking to life virtually.

Talking of virtual events, the digital version of our 2021 programme is now live! It features a welcome from the Media Voices team, all the shortlisted podcasts, and a sneak preview of our special announcement for next year. Wish us luck for the live event this afternoon!