How to make news pay on Youtube | Huge editorial shake-up at Reach
And three months after Matthew Scott-Goldstein warned publishers face 'extinction' due to Google changes he shares his views on an industry survival plan
Welcome to this week’s Future of Media newsletter from Press Gazette on Thursday 28 March.
First of all let me be the first to wish you a happy Wayzgoose.
Maundy Thursday was traditionally a day of rest for printers and press people (with no newspapers printed on Good Friday). Of course nowadays there are newspapers every day of the year except Christmas Day and online news never stops. But I hope you get to raise glass at some point today to keep this important tradition alive!
As we head into the Easter weekend, we have a follow-up article from Matthew Scott Goldstein to the piece we published by him in January which inspired a long-read in the New Yorker about newsroom extinction.
He remains alarmed about the damage that could be caused to publisher profitability by AI-generated search and the end of third-party cookies on Chrome. But he now has a plan which offers a bit more hope for potential resurrection.
This morning we report on a huge editorial shake-up at the UK’s biggest commercial news publisher Reach which (for once) won’t result in any job cuts. Some 300 out of 2,000 editorial staff are going to be seconded to a central traffic-driving hub working across multiple titles. The aim is to reduce duplication and allow dedicated editorial teams at particular newsbrands to focus more on their core content.
We also have an interview with the founder of TLDR News, a Youtube-native news brand which supports an 11-strong editorial team producing serious video journalism for a younger audience.
And we report on yet another apology from the Met Police for detaining journalists who were trying to do their job and cover a protest. This latest settlement comes nearly ten years after the event. Perhaps a more sincere show of contrition for the Met (and other UK police forces) would be to simply stop arresting and detaining journalists for doing their job.
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New from Press Gazette
What news publishers should do now to avoid extinction in 2025
“To navigate this challenging period, publishers must take quick proactive measures. I know this is basically an impossible task, providing advice like this, but I must try.”
Video brand TLDR finds way to make money providing news for the young
TLDR News is a profitable, Youtube-native publisher staffed mostly by twenty-somethings.
Reach plans to move 300 journalists into central traffic-driving content hub
“The last time we undertook a similar reshaping of this scale was over ten years ago when many of our regional titles moved to digital-first. This changed the game for us then and led us to the dominant online reach we still have today – it’s exciting that the opportunity is once again all to play for.”
Met Police issues apology nearly ten years after detaining journalists at protest
One photographer was hit in the face in the lead-up to the detention of the journalists.
GB News boss: ‘Very confident’ channel will be ‘self-sufficient’ financially
Angelos Frangopoulos on Ofcom's "slow" investigations and whether GB News would ditch linear like TalkTV.
Must-reads this week from Press Gazette you might have missed
Foreign state ownership ban could cover news websites as well as papers and magazines
Google and Facebook blocks hit revenue for The Tab publisher Digitalbox
How Wall Street Journal is keeping ‘spotlight shining’ on Evan Gershkovich one year after arrest
Newsweek editor: We can claim back our place on kitchen tables across America
Widening gulf between weekday and Saturday UK newspaper sales revealed
Our latest podcast
Podcast 68: How to make news pay on Youtube with TLDR News
Founder of video news network TLDR News Jack Kelly explains how he funds an 11-strong editorial team providing serious news for younger viewers on Youtube.
The profitable publisher is funded mainly through the Youtube ad revenue split and direct-sold sponsorship – but also made a successful foray last year into print publishing.
Press Gazette live
Entries are now OPEN for the Future of Media Awards 2024 (which celebrate the best journalism-based digital products). Check out the full list of categories here. Note: These awards are free to enter.