Five ways to save journalism on the open web | Online ads duopoly becomes triopoly
And how local news publishers in the US are making online paywalls work
Welcome to this week’s Future of Media newsletter from Press Gazette on Thursday 29 February 2024.
The good news is that Google and Facebook’s online advertising duopoly may have peaked.
The bad news is that Amazon, not publishers, is what is disrupting their market dominance.
We have investigated the latest industry estimates to work out where we are in terms of UK and US advertising markets being dominated by a few tech platforms.
None of it looks good in terms of advertising funding journalism on the open web.
If you have a great story about corruption, or have heard about a major crime which has happened in your local community, who are you going to call on to knock on doors and get some answers? The answer is increasingly looking like no-one.
However, I have come up with five ways in which I think quality journalism on the open web could be given a future.
The latest edition of our podcast delves deeper into this issue. Former Business Insider editor-in-chief, and Press Gazette investigations reporter, Jim Edwards explains how publishers should respond to a tsunami of change in the world of ad tech.
In brighter news we report on the US regional newsbrands which are making paywalls work with our annual ranking of the most popular titles with online subscribers.
New from Press Gazette
The Duopoly may have peaked, but watch out – here comes Amazon
Amazon now takes a 14.4% share of online ad dollars in the US, according to Insider Intelligence data. That’s more than Facebook (the app), which takes 10.6% of US ad spend. In the UK, Amazon takes 7.5% of budgets.
Paying for local news online: Paywalled US local news titles ranked
Since the first version of this story appeared in September 2022, the LA Times has upped its digital subscriber count by 10% to 550,000, while the Boston Globe’s count is up 6% to just over 260,000.
Just say ‘yes’ to cookies: Five ways to save quality journalism on the open web
“It is in all our interests that public interest journalism is cherished and given the best possible conditions to survive. So what can be done to promote it? Here is my shopping list.”
Must-reads this week from Press Gazette you might have missed
Guardian makes apology and payment to Dan Wootton after privacy complaint
Police ‘mounted surveillance op’ after journalists’ arrest in bid to find source
Newsquest and Reach bosses respond to questions over local news quality
UK publishers tell Parliament: Stop AI using our content without permission
As subscriber growth flattens ‘all you can read’ magazine app Readly moves into profit
‘Let us into Gaza’: 55 UK and US foreign reporters urge Israel and Egypt to lift news blockade
Revealed: Which of the top 100 UK and US news websites are blocking AI crawlers
Our latest podcast
Podcast 66: Online advertising – how publishers can survive a tsunami of change
Online advertising used to support investigative journalism at digital-native brands such as Buzzfeed News and Vice. In the space of just a few years everything has changed, and thousands of journalists have lost their jobs as a result.
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford talks to former Business Insider editor-in-chief Jim Edwards about what is going on and how publishers should adapt to an online publishing ecosystem which is being rocked by a tsunami of disruptive change.