Ten big reader trends and what publishers can do
Plus why keeping readers on-site is a little like training a puppy
Welcome to your daily newsletter from Press Gazette on Friday, 8 September, 2023 brought to you in association with Vindicia. Their free best practices guide “6 Tactics for Payments Professionals to Master Passive Churn” is available to download now.
Nic Newman’s presentation at Wednesday’s Future of Media Technology conference was a highlight of the day.
If you weren’t there, worry not, I have all the charts and the best bits from his commentary here.
Newman is the Bruce Springsteen of media analysts, and this was a medley of his greatest hits: news avoidance, declining trust, Gen Z’s switch to social media for news. It was all there. He also had some handy hints for publishers on what to do about some of these challenges.
We also have a report from the audience growth panel at the same event which grappled with the issue of how to grow publisher traffic when readers are increasingly choosing to stay on social media for their news.
The Ponsford household has recently acquired a puppy (a Hungarian Vizsla called Tigga since you ask). And listening to Miki Toliver King from ArcXP it struck me that publishers could do with learning some of the tips I have picked up from training Tigga. She spoke about the need to train our readers to stick around on sites.
That’s going to involve rewarding good behaviour and making it easy for them to do the right thing (whilst hopefully keeping toilet accidents to a minimum).
In case you missed them yesterday, here are the winners again from our Future of Media Awards. They include website of the year - The Telegraph. They were the first major UK publisher to launch a website back in 1994 and now they are officially the best!
New from Press Gazette:
Ten major trends in news consumption publishers need to be thinking about
"Part of the problem is that we are optimising on sites for the super users."
Audience growth: What publishers can learn from Tiktok and why social still matters
Panellists from Reach, Arc XP, The Independent and Ladbible Group on Tiktok, social media referrals, and news avoidance.
Livingdocs provide a ‘future proof’ and ‘agile’ content management system (partner content)
What you see is what you get because editors have the same view as readers.
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News in brief:
DMGT has said it could seek to buy the Telegraph with Middle Eastern investors. The publisher said it "would only do so if we have the majority of economic and equity risk, and the control needed to invest in the business and protect its editorial independence".(FT)PA Media says its video team "now operates the largest live streaming service of any news agency based in the UK". It launched live video in late 2022, with up to ten livestreams each weekday, and has now added them into a dedicated area of the PA Explore feed."(An AI took my job, literally)": Gizmodo's Spanish-language site shut down and fired its four journalists who did original reporting. They have been replaced with AI doing translations from English-language content and self-publishing. (Futurism)Some 22 philanthropic donors have launched an initiative in the US called Press Forward designed to support local news with grants of more than $500m over the next five years. (MacArthur Foundation)Previously on Press Gazette:
Future of Media Awards 2023 winners: Best digital journalism products of past year revealed
Meta to wind down Facebook News tab and stop funding Community News Project
If the big corporate publishers disappeared so would much local news investment
Ex-Sun editor David Yelland on PR: Lying is ‘far less common than you’d think’
Ranked: Most popular women’s and men’s lifestyle websites in UK in 2023
NationalWorld.com staff say morale at ‘rock bottom’ in letter to HR
Regional ABCs: UK daily local newspaper circulation down 20% in first half of 2023
Publishing services directory
If you need a content management system or adtech platform. If you’re investing in automation, commenting, subscriptions or an entire news business platform. In short, if you need any sort of technology to improve your business - start your search by checking out Press Gazette’s directory of trusted industry partners.
