Time CEO Jessica Sibley on B2B shift | Guardian staff hit the picket line
And our exclusive ranking of the biggest UK news apps shows Apple and the BBC way out in front
Good morning and welcome to your Press Gazette Future of Media newsletter on Thursday, 5 December, brought to you this week in association with Q5 - experts in organisational health.
US publishers generally seem to be hitting the end of 2024 with the wind in their sails.
This was certainly the impression I got from Time CEO Jessica Sibley when she joined me on stage at our recent New York event.
Two years into her tenure leading the iconic US brand, she said traffic is up and advertising revenue is booming. She also revealed that events are back in a big way for the title, which is owned by Marc and Lynne Benioff.
Prospects are also looking good for 2025 at Time, which went against the grain in 2023 and ditched its online paywall in favour of an ad-funded approach.
The Time strategy centres around a growing list of rankings and awards which also give it great access to America’s movers and shakers.
Her positive sentiments were shared by the likes of Forbes, News Corp and Dotdash Meredith who also joined us at the Media Strategy Network USA event.
UK-based Future plc, which claims to reach more than one in three Americans with its network of specialist brands, has had a disappointing year in the US (albeit with a stronger finish).
Its financial results released this morning show US revenue down 9% year on year to £284m in 2024. The Marie Claire and The Week publisher at least saw US digital advertising return to growth in the second half, accelerating to be 6% up year on year in the final quarter.
Revenue and profits were down across the board this morning at Future as CEO Jon Steinberg prepares to bows out, with personal finance site GoCompare driving the growth and shareholder value at the group. Read my interview with Steinberg on Press Gazette later today.
Today we also have an in-depth report from the current frontline of UK industrial unrest, the north London HQ of The Guardian.
Amid mouthfuls of birthday cake to celebrate the Observer’s 233rd anniversary, reporter Bron Maher found out why Guardian and Observer journalists are sufficiently upset about plans to sell the Observer to Tortoise Media that they are willing to forego four days of pay. Two more days of strike action are planned next week.
We also have a new exclusive ranking of the biggest news apps in the UK which has the BBC and Apple News way out in front when it comes to the battle for attention on mobile phones.
The Samsung news discovery app Upday appears to have had its day and is down 44% to just over one million users.
Google Discover does not figure in the app rankings (because it is not an app in its own right but a feature of the Google app embedded in most mobile phones). But I suspect it is probably the single most popular news discovery app in the UK and US right now.
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On Press Gazette
Time CEO Jessica Sibley says B2B shift is working for 101-year-old brand
“I am seeing a lot more positivity in terms of the business side, especially as we head into Q1. Things are improving.”
Most popular news apps in the UK: BBC News now bigger than Apple News
The biggest growth in the past year was at Substack, whose app was up 249% to reach 468,803 people in October.
On the picket line at Guardian: ‘Observer, Observer, James Harding don’t deserve her!’
“We feel we’ve been treated with contempt by our managers and by our owners, and that there’s been no engagement with journalists on this.”
Press Gazette highlights
Top 50 news websites in the world: Traffic bounces back from September lull
Top 50 news websites in the US: Most newsbrands returned to growth in October ahead of election
Google search change hits publisher Black Friday e-commerce revenue
Privileged, posh, amoral and stupid? Don’t tar all journalists with the same brush
News media job cuts 2024 tracked: Hearst Magazines and Now This latest hit
Latest podcast
Podcast 79: How Bluesky became News-sky, Google Discover, US election lessons
Press Gazette editor-in-chief Dominic Ponsford talks about the benefits of Bluesky for publishers with the zeal of a new convert, reporter Bron Maher explains how publishers are getting new traffic from Google via Discover and Charlotte Tobitt reveals the biggest lessons for the news industry from the US presidential election.