Murdoch's closing remarks | GB News launches paid membership scheme
Plus we have your ABC circulation figures for October
Good morning and welcome to your daily media news briefing on Friday, 17 November, brought to you today in association with Bauer Academy - Bauer Media's training provider, offering you a chance to future-proof your careers with day courses delivered by head of journalism Andrew Greaves.
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford has been in New York this week for our first ever US conference with more than 100 media industry leaders.
He’s heard tales of success from subscriptions-based publishers like The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg but also concerns from ad-funded news media with Google referral traffic falling off a cliff in recent weeks and weird goings on in the online advertising market.
We’ll explore all this for you further in the weeks to come.
In the meantime, we have a tale of a primarily ad-funded newsbrand trying out adding memberships to bolster income. GB News has an engaged core of fans and has suffered an advertising boycott since launch so it makes perfect sense for it to see how much viewers can be encouraged to hand over for exclusive content.
We also have Rupert Murdoch’s full final speech to News Corp shareholders as co-chairman on Wednesday. He discussed generative AI, News Corp’s digital development, Israel, imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and the future under the leadership of his son Lachlan.
And finally we’ve got our monthly update of the print ABCs, which see the Evening Standard’s distribution fall below 300,000 for the first time since it went free in October 2009.
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New from Press Gazette
GB News launches paid membership scheme with events, paywalled video and crosswords
GB News says that by becoming a member its audiences can "support GB News and keep free speech alive in Britain".
Murdoch says son Lachlan ‘believes in social purpose of journalism’ as he hands over reins
“Like my father, I believe that humanity has a ‘high destiny’, and Lachlan certainly shares that belief. That sense of destiny is not just a blessing but a responsibility.”
National press ABCs: FT stays steady while Evening Standard falls below 300,000 for first time since going free
The biggest year-on-year circulation declines among paid-for titles were at Reach tabloids, with a 22% drop at the Sunday People to 62,143 and a 19% fall at the Daily Star Sunday to 78,051.
Ecosystem of a story: How to maximise both reach and engagement using different entry points
"This is not about creating more work but planning what you might need to capture to fill your ecosystem."
Podcast 60: How to make local news pay with Newsquest CEO Henry Faure Walker
Last year UK regional news giant Newsquest made £40m in pre-tax profits on turnover of £190m.
This year it is tracking to have ad revenue broadly flat over two years.
CEO Henry Faure Walker spoke to Dominic Ponsford about how the publisher of 200+ titles is bucking the trend on both audience and advertising revenue decline. He also shed light on some fascinating experiments using generative AI in the newsroom.
News in brief
More than 100 US news media leaders met in New York on Wednesday for Press Gazette's Media Strategy Network USA event. (Pictures on X/Twitter)
Government will keep the judicial review standard for appeals by tech giants on regulatory decisions under the Digital Markets Bill. This is backed by the News Media Association, which said it means the CMA won't get "bogged down in complex, lengthy, and costly legal wrangling". (Gov.uk)
Buzzfeed is making a strategic shift that will see its different brands - including Complex, Huffpost and Tasty - operate more independently from one another and each try to grow their direct audiences. (Adweek)
ITN chief executive Rachel Corp has become the new chair of Women in Journalism, succeeding Mirror editor-in-chief Alison Phillips after three years. Corp said she was "very honoured... to help tackle the remaining barriers to progression in our industry". (Women in Journalism)
New research shows 32% of people aged 18 to 24 in the US now regularly get news from Tiktok, up from 9% in 2020, 18% in 2021 and 26% in 2022. Overall 14% of US adults regularly get news on the platform, up from 3% in 2020. (Pew Research Center)
Previously on Press Gazette
Platform profile: How to reach the 70 million people using Snapchat for news
Telegraph journalists told use of ChatGPT will result in same sanctions as plagiarism
Photographer wins court copyright row with local radio website
Business Insider co-founder Henry Blodget steps aside as CEO
BBC journalists vote to end months-long dispute over local cuts
