Newsletter masterclass with the FT | How le paywall saved Le Monde
Full round-up of speech radio industry listening figures for Q4 2024 and 15 essential and (mostly free) AI resources for publishers
Good morning and welcome to your Press Gazette Future of Media newsletter on Thursday, 6 February, brought to you this week in association with the AOP Digital Publishing Awards. Enter before March 20th for your chance to win.
Head of newsletters sounds a lot less glamorous than being a newspaper editor.
Not so much growling at reporters while chewing a cigar as pouring over spreadsheets looking for ways to increase your open rates.
But I suspect for some newspaper publishers the head of emails will be every bit as important as the person in charge of the print edition.
She really knows her onions and delivered a masterclass on email strategy for publishers.
I took heart from the fact that in a media world where many platforms for journalism are on fire - email remains a safe outlet for our wares .
Today we also have the latest quarterly data on another strong platform for news, radio.
Times Radio is up, GB News Radio is down, Radio 4 Today is up and down. But overall, audio is doing OK reflecting the fact metrics body Rajar works hard to capture listening across various devices both live and on-demand.
In 2010 Le Monde was facing bankruptcy and carrying huge debts. Since then it has nearly doubled its editorial workforce, it has been profitable for the last nine years and is in touching distance of digital subscriptions alone covering all its editorial costs.
Promoted job: Headline Search, which finds “cracking comms jobs for journalists (and only journalists)” is looking for an experienced tech/business journalist for a fast-growing London-based PR company. Excellent package and great company culture promised. Email: Cathal@headlinesearch.co.uk (and please mention Press Gazette).
On Press Gazette
FT head of newsletters on how it tripled its newsletter subscriptions in four years
There is more to life than open rates says Sarah Ebner in this masterclass Q&A.
Le Monde CEO: Digital subscriber revenue will pay for entire newsroom within two years
French title has nearly doubled editorial team in 13 years says Louis Dreyfus.
RAJARs Q4 2024: Times Radio grows amid declines at Talk and GB News
Meanwhile the weekly reach of Radio 5 Live dropped below that of the BBC's local and regional stations.
Fifteen essential AI resources for publishers
Paul Hood recommends some essential podcasts, newsletters, events and AI tools for publishers.
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This week on Press Gazette
Third of New York Times subscribers do not pay for its news product
FT policy chief warns MPs watered-down copyright regime for AI is ‘huge mistake’
Mail Online sued by agency for payment over Mahsa Amini image
UK-based sports publisher aims to create 100 new jobs in 2025
Mail Online becoming home for in-depth multimedia storytelling with Deep Dive strand
Will Hayward says quitting Wales Online to launch Substack was financial ‘no-brainer’
Digital advertising and cost cuts fuel growing profits at Mail titles
Nine reasons why Mirror journalists think page-view targets are wrong
Latest podcast: Newsletter strategy for publishers, a masterclass with the FT's Sarah Ebner
Over four years at the Financial Times head of newsletters for the title Sarah Ebner has helped grow the title's number of email subscribers from just over 400,000 to 1.6 million.
She told Press Gazette that email newsletters are now the biggest driver of reader engagement at the FT. They are also hugely important for driving subscriber loyalty and finding new paying readers as well as providing advertising and subscription revenue in their own right.
In this interview she explains how publishers can supercharge their newsletter strategy.