Reach to make 60 'Content Hub' hires | Bloomberg adds 200k subs in four months
And the Daily Mail's parent company bets on CBD and cacao upcycling
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Wednesday, 23 October, 2024.
In the time it has taken me to write up one news story, have a British Journalism Awards judging session and pen this newsletter, one Reach journalist has published more than 30 stories under their byline.
This Reach content editor has written articles ranging from the latest pronouncements on money matters from Martin Lewis, to criticism of Piers Morgan on social media, to news that a "snow bomb" is hitting the UK next week (don't worry, it isn't).
Some of their stuff involves writing up useful press releases put out by government departments. Other articles are a bit clickbait-y — reporting for example that BBC Breakfast has been interrupted with breaking royal news (no-one has died, someone's plane has landed).
It all appears on a local website but none of it is local. The writer is clearly a master of creating audience-driving content and the clicks they generate no doubt help fund journalism which is more investigative in nature. Given the prodigious output of this writer I am guessing there must be an element of robot assistance involved in what they do.
Reach is looking to further increase its central content team, which includes people tasked with writing this sort of stuff, with the recruitment of 60 additional staff. We have the story here.
Today we also report how the owner of the Daily Mail is branching out into consumer goods, investing in a CBD drinks company and a cacao upcycling operation.
And we talk to Bloomberg Media's Weekend editor Katherine Bell and chief digital officer Julia Beizer about how the mainly business-focussed website has added 200,000 subscribers in the space of four months and how it’s hoping to lock them in for the long run with more investment in lifestyle and cultural content.
New from Press Gazette
Reach website Birmingham Live.
Reach expands central editorial team with hire of 60 journalists
Reach is also creating a new team of 20 “general assignment” journalists whose role will be to cover breaking stories and trending topics when required across the group.
Bloomberg launches Weekend product after adding 200,000 new subs in four months
“One thing we’ve found about this audience is that they’re incredibly ambitious – they think about their work, and getting ahead broadly, all of the time. That doesn’t stop – that’s not a nine-to-five ambition, that’s an all the time ambition.”
Daily Mail publisher invests in CBD drinks and cacao ‘upcycling’ companies
“We will put the full weight of DMGT’s media brands – and their vast global audience – behind Trip and Blue Stripes.”
News in brief
The shortlist for Women in Journalism’s Georgina Henry Awards has been announced. The finalists are Philippa Willitts, Felicia Pennant, Sophia Alexandra Hall, Sophia Smith Galer and Lucy Nash. The winner will be announced in November at The Media Freedom Awards. (Women in Journalism)
Separately, Women in Journalism's next event, Language Matters, will explore how language choices in the media can diminish women. Countdown's Susie Dent will host the panel, scheduled for Monday 4 November at 7pm. Sign up here for the Zoom link.
OpenAI and Microsoft have contributed $10m to a fund that will distribute money to local publishers in the US experimenting with generative AI. The first five partner newsrooms will each receive a $500,000 grant to pay for a two-year, AI-focused fellow. (Axios)
The youngest son of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Cooper Hefner, has reportedly submitted a $100m bid to bring the magazine brand back into the family. (The Wall Street Journal)
Following on from sister podcast The Rest is Politics, Goalhanger's The Rest is Entertainment has announced its first live event, set to take place at the Royal Albert Hall on 4 December. (Podnews)
Previously on Press Gazette
News Corp seeks massive damages from AI firm perlexity for stealing content
Tortoise is ‘ideal owner’ for Observer says former editor Roger Alton
Less moralising and more fun: What we can learn from the golden era of women’s mags
Top 50 news websites in the world: Half grow traffic year on year
Future plc share price tumbles after boss Jon Steinberg steps down
Nottingham Post vindicated over characterisation of police ‘non-disclosable’ briefing
Telegraph bidder Dovid Efune’s New York Sun is obscure even in home city
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