Wednesday 3rd April: Automated voices coming to the NYT

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NYT to soon offer most articles via automated voice

The move will help position the Times as one of the biggest audio news companies globally.

www.axios.com/2024/04/02/exclusive-nyt-to-soon-offer-most-articles-via-automated-voice

There’s no question the New York Times is one of the leading publishers when it comes to audio innovation. Flagship podcast The Daily is one of the most popular in the world, and its dedicated NYT Audio app was downloaded 1 million times last year.

So why am I slightly underwhelmed by the news that they’re bringing automated voice narrations to their articles? Given the publisher’s vast resources, it’s a little disappointing that they’re not trying something slightly more interesting. A more personalised experience - like selecting a style of narration or customising article feeds - is on the horizon, but with no firm timeline.

I’ve got no issue with opening up access through automated audio articles. It’s great to offer if you can, and many publishers who are experimenting with them have seen real success. But I was really hoping for something more innovative here.

LeMonde, FAZ share tips to crack down on subscriber password sharing

Password sharing is a growing problem that costs news publishers revenue. During this week’s Webinar, LeMonde and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung explained how they addressed the challenge.

www.inma.org/blogs/reader-revenue/post.cfm/lemonde-faz-share-tips-to-crack-down-on-subscriber-password-sharing

This INMA piece is fascinating, although I suspect the proportion of publishers who actually see password-sharing as a significant issue is overblown (Toolkits research last year actually suggested that most publishers have far more pressing concerns). Here, LeMonde and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung share how they’re tackling password sharing. My favourite takeaway: LeMonde had 20 workers ready to take calls complaining about their own crackdown, but no one called.

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The turbulent rise, death and rebirth of Alt-Tech media

Can Rumble become the anti-censorship movement's big success story?

www.news-future.com/p/the-turbulent-rise-death-and-rebirth

If you’re following the Trump Media and Technology Group’s public debut and are scratching your head about what it all means, Ian Silvera has done a useful run-down of the business behind Truth Social and similar alt-tech media like Rumble and Parler (which is apparently relaunching for the 2024 elections).

“A fucking clown show”: how Vice’s execs burned down its newsroom

The wild expenses, shady deals, and greed that ruined Vice.

www.theverge.com/24094310/vice-media-layoffs-bankruptcy-shane-smith

Talking of precipitous falls from dizzying valuations, this is a pretty mind-boggling look at some of the “fanfiction finance” going on behind the scenes at Vice. It describes a “corporate culture with no discernible strategy and little of the necessary financial infrastructure or discipline needed to run a company of its scale.” Ouch.

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