'Tiktok-like' app created for People mag | French publisher coming for Politico
And we have the latest US and global traffic data for March showing gains for political sites amid Trump turbulence
Good morning and welcome to your daily media briefing from Press Gazette on Friday 11 April.
US showbiz news giant People has launched an app.
Big deal, I hear you say, you will be telling us next that they have launched a podcast and a newsletter.
But the new People app is a little different from most. Owner Dotdash Meredith pride themselves on being tech savvy (they employ some 800 software engineers). And 65 staff have been working full-time on building an app which aims to incorporate the addictive scrollability of Tiktok and which launched yesterday for Apple devices.
Today we also publish our latest top-50 global news websites ranking which shows the New York Times overtaking the BBC in top spot. This is partly down to a strong start to the year for the NYT but mainly due to a change in methodology from Similarweb, which has stopped previous double-counting of BBC.co.uk and BBC.com traffic.
The latest US top-50 websites data shows most sites growing strongly, led by The Atlantic on the back of its amazing Yemen airstrikes group chat revelations.
CEO Jean-Christophe Boulanger explained how the title has grown from launch to 100 staff and €11m turnover by focusing purely on subscriptions revenue (albeit helped also by a tidy grant from the French state).
Further reading: Careless People, by former Facebook global policy director Sarah Wynn-Williams, is well worth a read (or a listen, in audiobook version as I have this week). At one level it’s a fun account of the sort of petty rubbish that I am sure goes on at most media companies. But it takes a much darker turn when she exposes Meta’s complicity with autocratic regimes, marketing of beauty products to vulnerable teens and role helping to fuel genocide in Myanmar. Her final conclusion (which may be instructive when it comes to publisher dealings with the tech giant) is that Meta chiefs “don’t give a fuck” about their impact on the world as long as the revenue continues to roll in.
On Press Gazette
People’s new smartphone app. Montage: Press Gazette
Dotdash Meredith makes major investment in ‘Tiktok-like’ People app
Dotdash Meredith CEO Neil Vogel say People's first app is "really different" and "really awesome".
French policy title Contexte takes on Politico with English-language launch
Subscription-based news product expands in Brussels and publishes in English for first time.
Top 50 news websites in the US: The Atlantic saw 40% rise in visits amid group chat scoop
All but eight of the 50 most-visited news sites in the US saw traffic growth in March compared to February, with a third seeing at least 10% growth in the longer month.
Top 50 news websites in the world: New York Times overtakes BBC
Strong growth from the New York Times, coupled with a change in methodology from Similarweb, means it has overtaken the BBC to become number one on Press Gazette’s ranking of the top-50 English language news websites worldwide.
News in brief
ITV News deputy political editor Anushka Asthana to join Channel 4 News as US editor this summer. (Press Gazette)
Google Discover is going to be added to search on desktop, the tech giant has told SEO experts. (Search Engine Journal)
A judge has ruled that Newsmax made defamatory statements about Dominion Voting Systems which it falsely claimed had rigged votes in the 2020 presidential election. The case will now go to a jury trial starting on 28 April. (The New York Times)
Half of Americans say they don't want news from an AI chatbot, and 20% don't want newsrooms using AI at all, according to research by the Poynter Institute and the University of Minnesota. (Poynter)
Also this week on Press Gazette
Trump’s threat to global media is more wide-ranging than just a trade war
Economist president Luke Bradley-Jones on building a moat to defend against AI
Comment: AI could see investment flow back to newsroom from the IT department
Dow Jones spikes NUJ negotiations to recognise News UK-funded ‘News Union’
Dan Wootton accused of ‘catfishing’ former colleague, court hears
IPSO decides not to launch Jewish Chronicle standards investigation
Virtual reality: The widely-quoted media experts who are not what they seem
PR industry alarmed at rise of fake commenters exposed by Press Gazette
Gen Z outlet says it proves young people will pay for news done the right way
Latest podcast: Jim Mullen's legacy at Reach | Value of news to Google | Sun losses, Times profits
Press Gazette's editorial team share their insights into big stories from the world of news. Charlotte Tobitt talks us through the latest News UK accounts, which show losses at The Sun shrank in the year to June 2024 while The Times reported a £60m profit.
We react to news that Jim Mullen, the divisive CEO at Reach, is stepping down. And Bron Maher looks at the arguments and counterarguments being made by publishers and Google over what news is really worth on its platforms.