Mail Online considers partial paywall | Impress corrects Companies House filing
Good morning and welcome to your daily media news briefing on Tuesday, 12 December, brought to you this week in association with OneTrust – The Trust Intelligence Platform. Their latest toolkit ‘AdTech and Consent Toolkit’ is available to download now.
News that Mail Online is planning to launch a partial paywall next year is the latest sign that online advertising is broken as a way of paying for mass audience journalism.
It is a move that speaks to what will be the big tech theme for 2024: addressability.
Online advertising revenue for publishers has declined this year, even as the overall market has grown. This is because publishers' ability to serve personalised advertising based on reader data has gradually declined due to changes in the tech landscape. Advertising has shifted away from publishers providing news on the open web in favour of closed networks with a signed-in mass audience like Youtube, Facebook and Tiktok.
This erosion of online profitability for news will only accelerate next year as Google switches off publisher cookies on Chrome.
Paywall moves are an understandable response and have proven to be an excellent way of supporting high-quality journalism.
The downside is that 65% of Britons say they will never subscribe to a news website.
The challenge of increasing the addressable audience for publishers (those who command premium advertising rates because they share data) will be a key one next year if journalism is to survive on the open web.
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New from Press Gazette
Mail Online looks set to adopt partial ‘freemium’ paywall in 2024
The plan is understood to be based on German tabloid Bild’s model. Bild began charging for access to premium content in 2013 and has now reached more than 675,000 subscribers.
Press regulator Impress forced to correct misleading accounts
Impress has apologised for “any confusion caused” by suggesting it had a funding agreement with the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the year to 31 March.
How NCTJ plans to tackle AI ‘shockwaves’ through industry
“AI is having a considerable impact on the NCTJ as a charity and we are tackling our own challenges. The potential for generative AI to be used by fraudsters to undermine the integrity of our qualifications is a very real risk and one which the NCTJ and our partners are acting on.”
Podcast 61: Why bad news can be good for business publishers with Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour
Dow Jones chief executive and Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour spoke to Press Gazette about how the financial news division of News Corp just managed to achieve its most profitable quarter since 2007.
In this edited version of his interview at the Press Gazette Media Strategy Network event in New York this month, he also spoke about what publishers need to focus on as global uncertainty looks set to continue in 2024.
News in brief
GB News and its political editor Christopher Hope unveiled the channel’s new Westminster studio yesterday. The investment is a major part of its ambition to be the number one news channel in the UK by 2028, as reported by Press Gazette in March.
158-year-old progressive US magazine The Nation will publish monthly instead of every other week from January, but will increase its pages from 48 to 84. The title said subscribers want "more of what we do in print at one time, and less often". (The New York Times)
European news publishers are "disappointed" by the outcome of the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act after lawmakers did not include a requirement to show sources. The act does include a need for "detailed summaries about the content used for training", however. (European Parliament)
Jeff Zucker says he would aim to take Telegraph subscribers from one million to two million within three to five years and that investment firm RedBird IMI would be "committed for the long term" - which he says is "more than a traditional five to seven years". (Sunday Times)
Prince Harry has been ordered to pay £48,447 costs to Mail on Sunday owner Associated Newspapers by the end of the year after losing his bid to have its libel defence thrown out. The three to four day trial is scheduled to be held between 17 May and 31 July 2024. (Daily Mirror)
Magazine and newspaper app Readly has launched an AI-powered audio function on a selection of articles with the goal of boosting user engagement and creating an "easier and more flexible reading experience". Press Gazette reported in October on how Norway's biggest daily has found success using AI voices reading its text articles, saying engagement was on a par to its podcasts.
Cable company Altice USA is reportedly in talks to sell Cheddar News, which it acquired for $200m in 2019, to LA-based private equity firm Regent LP. Cheddar was founded in 2016 by Jon Steinberg, now chief executive of Future based in the UK. (CNBC)
Previously on Press Gazette
Banned in UK, China state broadcaster now running free video news agency
International Criminal Court holds key to curb killing of journalists in Israel-Hamas war
63 journalists killed in as many days: Silence from newsrooms is deafening
BBC warns 6.7% licence fee rise will lead to £90m further cuts
