I’m not quite ready to do a year-in-review piece, but when I do, there is a lot to reflect on over the past year. During my career in digital media and working with digital media projects, there have been few years where I’ve seen as much change. Despite the job losses this year and the change, I think it’s a little more hopeful because we do have models and tactics to build successful media businesses. More on that in that in the year-end wrap. Now onto the stories..

Data-driven optimisation is one of the major positive results of product-driven cultures at news organisations, and INMA has a case study from Sweden of how VK used a “data-driven, iterative process” to improve its click-through rate.

VK Media increased CTR by 130% “one step at a time”

VK Media’s front page was working well, but the article recommendations shown below the article on the article pages were not generating much engagement. It began A/B testing and compared clicks in its article recommendations to article pageviews over time to evaluate how it was doing.

www.inma.org/blogs/ideas/post.cfm/vk-media-increased-ctr-by-130-one-step-at-a-time

As I said, we have some great tactics on how to increase revenue in media, and on the journalism side, WAN-IFRA has a great rundown of the stories that it has done about reader revenue. From paid newsletters to tactics to grow subscriptions, WAN-IFRA has some great case studies.

Ten of our top reader revenue stories from 2023 - WAN-IFRA

2023-12-14. To close out this year, we are taking a look back at some of our most popular reader revenue related articles from 2023. These stories offer good lessons to be learned, reviewed and re-considered, and we’re pleased to see that they come from many different countries around the world as well.

wan-ifra.org/2023/12/ten-of-our-top-reader-revenue-related-stories-from-2023

In my day job at Pugpig, we write a weekly newsletter, and we have a mutual admiration society with Madeleine and Marion from The Audiencers, which has excellent pieces about audience development, digital media transformation and subscription optimisation. A great insight in this piece is to allow for the novelty effect to wear off so that you can see how things have settled down into discernable patterns. As we have said at the Pugpig Media Bulletin, make sure to test only one variable at a time.

4 learnings about A/B testing after 5 years working on Paid Content at ZEIT ONLINE | The Audiencers

A/B testing is essential to being successful in the subscription business. Whether Spotify, Netflix, Disney or The New York Times - everything is tested

theaudiencers.com/operations/4-learnings-about-a-b-testing-after-5-years-working-on-paid-content-at-zeit-online

I will write more about this in my year-end wrap, but it’s been a tough year both in the US and the UK for folks working in media. And at the end of the year, I had a few friends who were affected by layoffs. Adweek’s Mark Stenberg looks back at the job losses in the US and how many players it affected, particularly in the internet space. And he writes how advertisers are now shifting away from the internet as a channel.

The worst year in digital media history

More than 20,000 jobs have been lost

medialyter.substack.com/p/the-worst-year-in-digital-media-history?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

Another theme this year has been regulators battles with tech giants in Australia, Canada, the EU and US states. Canada recently struck a deal with Google for payments to news publishers, and now Australia is looking to share the details of the deals that tech giants have made with news publishers there.

Tech giants could be forced to share secret news deals under Australia’s media bargaining code

New legislation will help ensure sustainability of public interest journalism, Labor says

www.theguardian.com/media/2023/dec/18/tech-giants-could-be-forced-to-share-secret-news-deals-under-australias-media-bargaining-code

This is data for the UK TV industry, and while I haven’t heard similar figures for newspapers and magazines, I can’t believe that it is any rosier. However, the UK market has its own unique headwinds that aren’t the same for others.

Even a drop of festive Bublé can’t halt £150m slump in Christmas TV advertising

As a cash-strapped festive season looms, brands are reining in their spending on traditional broadcast campaigns

www.theguardian.com/media/2023/dec/17/even-a-drop-of-festive-buble-cant-halt-150m-slump-in-christmas-tv-advertising

Content discovery is a major issue in TV and podcasts, but improved discovery can also support improved engagement with text content. And AI personalisation of newsletters and homepages is an opportunity for publishers to apply AI.

AI-powered personalization will boost revenue in new ways

AI-powered personalization is discovery's future. It will enable content distribution optimization and conversational voice discovery.

nscreenmedia.com/ai-powered-personalization-revenue

The big news this week was German media giant Axel Springer’s deal with OpenAI, more on that in a bit. Before we get into that, I think it’s worth taking a step back and getting some strategic thinking from my friend Damin Radcliffe. His starting point is not to jump on the bandwagon, which is to say that any move needs to be considered and carried out with intentionality. A media company needs to establish guidelines and bring the entire company along through the process, he says. And lastly, he says that media companies need to protect their IP and monetise it when possible.

Seven steps for a successful AI strategy - Digital Content Next

Many media companies have already been using AI for some time. Rapid advances have accelerated interest in the possibilities AI can unlock.

digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2023/09/28/seven-steps-for-a-successful-ai-strategy

TechCrunch has the details on the deal. OpenAI will create summaries of content for its properties including those that are behind paywall gates. The agreement includes licencing and attribution.

OpenAI inks deal with Axel Springer on licensing news for model training | TechCrunch

OpenAI has inked a deal with the news publisher Axel Springer to pay for articles on which OpenAI will train future AI models.

techcrunch.com/2023/12/13/openai-inks-deal-with-axel-springer-on-licensing-news-for-model-training

My friend Adam Tinworth summarises other details of the deal. Axel Springer will get to use OpenAI to improve its products. Adam also puts this in the context of other developments at Springer such as its decision to close down aggregator Upday. He thinks that this bodes well for big publishers, but I also think that smaller publishers need to come together and make sure that their content is licenced properly as well.

OpenAI is paying Axel Springer for its content

The German publishing giant has inked a deal with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT

onemanandhisblog.com/2023/12/openai-is-paying-axel-springer-for-its-content

In other news, the Press Gazette reviews what it has learned from five years of daily news podcasting. It is a competitive space with the New York Times’ Daily. But The Guardian takes a slightly different take on the model as it focuses on its in-depth journalism.

What The Guardian has learned from five years of daily news podcasting

The Guardian's head of audio Nicole Jackson and podcast presenter Michael Safi on five years of daily news podcast Today in Focus.

pressgazette.co.uk/podcasts/guardian-today-in-focus-daily-news-podcast-five-years

Aron Pilhofer is moving on from News Catalyst to lead product at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and he takes time before he moves on to recap the lessons that he learned. One thing that I appreciate is that they didn’t have the resources “to drive the change (they) wanted to see” on their own so they used a networked, collaborative approach. It’s a good piece on how to partner smartly to have the impact you want to have.

Lessons from News Catalyst - The Lenfest Institute for Journalism

News Catalyst provides tools, fosters collaboration, and promotes experimentation to build digitally sustainable local news organizations

www.lenfestinstitute.org/solutions-resources/lessons-from-news-catalyst-as-it-sunsets

LIONPubs also has some sage wisdom on building sustainable local news businesses. Direct funding alone won’t make them sustainable so they invest in helping companies get operationally ready and invest in business hires as well as editorial talent. (They also need to have a business plan as early as possible.)

Direct funding alone does not make a news business more sustainable - from ⁦@LIONPubs⁩ Couldn’t agree more - we’ve distributed $15M over past 3 yrs. Operational readiness is key to success. Revenue hires need training & competitive pay. Good read!

— Nancy Lane (@localmediarocks)
Dec 13, 2023

This is a classic story of digital transformation about aligning editorial teams and focusing on user needs. They realised that their production cycles were not in sync with their audiences’ behaviour. More than that, they struggled because 90% of their revenue still comes from print. This was the story with publishers across the West, and now, it is coming to India as well.

To guide their transformation, they are focusing on users and also developing metrics so that they have a common understanding of what success looks like. And their transformation is focused on digital subscription.

How The Hindu increased audience engagement by 21% in 6 months - WAN-IFRA

2023-12-14. India’s The Hindu Group recently undertook a major initiative to overhaul their digital transformation strategy. The objective of the project was to seed audience-first thinking in the company’s Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru bureaus and study its impact before rolling out the program to all the centres.

wan-ifra.org/2023/12/how-the-hindu-increased-audience-engagement-by-21-in-6-months

Twitter has long obsessed journalists, often in unhealthy ways. It did drive the conversation about politics and sports, but for a lot of other news especially local news, it didn’t really have that much of an impact. As I have said a number of times, I’ve seen the analytics at hundreds of publishers, and Twitter rarely ever drove more than single digit referrals. And even before Musk started breaking the platform, Twitter’s analytics were increasingly poor. This is a good corrective view of Twitter. Some incredible folks worked there who tried to increase the positive impact of the platform, but sadly, all of that has been undone. This isn’t to detract from their work, but it is to add some perspective

How Twitter broke the news

“No one chasing money in media ever chased Twitter. But anyone chasing power found themselves irresistibly drawn to the platform.”

www.theverge.com/c/features/23993135/twitter-breaking-news-history

I am all for using technology smartly to support local journalism, and it is interesting to see public media in Chicago use the Crosstown newsletter platform to add local data to a story so that it can be tailored for each neighborhood. For WBEZ in Chicago, that meant a reporter wrote one story, and the software produced 77 different versions. They say that the open rate is more than 70%, which means that the newsletters are finding a receptive audience. Fascinating.

Crosstown helps newsrooms create hyperlocal newsletters Crosstown helps newsrooms create hyperlocal neighborhood newsletters

The Crosstown newsletter platform allows a publisher to produce different versions of the same story that are then fitted with the data and charts for every community.

localmedia.org/2023/12/crosstown-helps-newsrooms-create-hyperlocal-newsletters

A bit of a disclaimer first, not only is the New European a customer for Pugpig, where I work, but my team is currently doing some consulting for them. A couple of years, they launched a crowd-funding investment programme to allow them to market their newspaper. It has paid off so that they will be in the black with their pro-European British newspaper and digital news service. I like that they used this funding model to create a sustainable subscription business.

New European 'in profit' with 33,000 paying readers seven years after Brexit vote

The New European newspaper has reached profitability for the first time, driven in part by a partnership with the Rest is Politics podcast.

pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/magazines/the-new-european-profitable-the-rest-is-politics

Future announced a decline in revenue, especially in the US market with the CEO putting the rough patch down to being hit hard by Google Algorithm changes, AI and the macro-economic environment. They saw a major decline in their technology commerce business with soft Black Friday sales, but sports and gardening were bright spots. They are splitting their portfolio into three segments. What is interesting to me is that these three segments aren’t audience-focused but rather focused on their performance: hero, halo and cash generator brands.

Future plc CFO stepping down as company reports revenue declines and new two-year investment plan

Future plc’s CFO Penny Ladkin-Brand announced on Thursday that she is stepping down, as the U.K.- based media company reported declining revenues and a new two-year investment plan to get back to growth.

digiday.com/media/future-plc-cfo-stepping-down-as-company-reports-revenue-declines-and-new-two-year-investment-plan

Cheddar was one of those news brands for millennials, and as it is up for what Brian Morrissey described as a “fire sale”, I wonder if this is an issue for media that was created for the generation’s moment but didn’t have a broader strategy.

Altice USA in talks to sell Cheddar News to private equity firm Regent

Altice USA is in talks to sell financial streaming news service Cheddar to a private equity firm.

www.cnbc.com/2023/12/11/altice-usa-in-talks-to-sell-cheddar-news-to-private-equity-firm.html

News companies are getting serious about AI, and the New York Times has just announced its editorial director of A.I. Initiatives, Zach Seward. He will start by touring the newsroom and establishing principles for the use of A.I.

Zach Seward Is the Newsroom’s Editorial Director of A.I. Initiatives | The New York Times Company

www.nytco.com/press/zach-seward-is-the-newsrooms-editorial-director-of-a-i-initiatives

The Nieman Lab posts that caught my eye

Sarah Marshall highlights how post-platform has meant a change in platforms for her teams. She highlights work her teams have done on “Threads, WhatsApp Channels, Instagram Broadcasts, and the soon-to-launch Facebook Channels”. And YouTube Shorts has seen explosive growth as Comscore highlighted during its recent year in review. What I like about Sarah’s post is that it is focused on audience needs not just changes in platforms.

We get past “post-platform”

"With a seemingly limitless number of platforms on which to meet and engage audiences — but still a finite number of hours in the day — teams will need to develop frameworks to understand where to start, stop, and pivot."

www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/we-get-past-post-platform

This piece caught my eye because it shows how a mix of public and institutional funders are trying to find a way forward for local news. Add this project in California to the Press Forward half-billion-dollar fund announced this year to other experiments such as information districts that leverage local libraries in the US, there are several efforts in the US to restore local news coverage.

More public funding for local news

"The local news fellowship model is gaining traction in states beyond California and may be a way to test the country’s comfort with public financing of news."

www.niemanlab.org/2023/12/more-public-funding-for-local-news

After the AI screw-up at Sports Illustrated, there has been a leadership shake-up. But this coverage of the fall-out is a classic example of toxic leadership.

Inside a Major Shakeup at Sports Illustrated

The new owner of the company that owns Sports Illustrated made a jarring first impression, warning his employees: ’No one is important.’

frontofficesports.com/the-amount-of-useless-stuff-you-guys-do-is-staggering-inside-a-shakeup-at-sports-illustrated

This is an important question, and this piece looks at some of the things that young journalists will need to be prepared for as they enter the field. I think that young journalists will also need to be taught how be entrepreneurial as they navigate an uncertain career path.

How can universities prepare young journalists for the industry?

Focusing on emotional resilience is as important as teaching media law

www.journalism.co.uk/news/how-can-universities-prepare-young-journalists-for-the-industry-/s2/a1096376

Guy Tasaka makes a very sturdy case for mobile apps for local news publishers. He highlights stats on how much more engagement apps users. App users consumer more than 6x more sessions per month than desktop or mobile web users, and more than, he breaks out the incredible amount of adviews -151 - that mobile app users consume than desktop - 10 - or mobile web -7. And push notifications are such an important tool for publishers to engage users. Tasaka is right to highlight that publishers have aggregators to content with, but apps are an important tool in the publishing stack for local news organisations.

Native mobile apps put news publishers in control of content and their futures - Editor and Publisher

Mobile apps are now used more than mobile web browsers. eMarketer estimated that in 2022, the average American spent over four hours a day on mobile devices, and over 90% of that time spent was using a mobile app. This ubiquity of mobile apps in everyday digital habits presents both risks and opportunities for news publishers.

www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/getting-mobile,246794

Print represents 25% of The Guardian’s revenue, and their publishing director Mylene Sylvestre attributes the resilience of their print business on distinctive content and a global footprint. It underscores how much British publishers are looking to a global market for growth. And both in their digital and print operations, they are looking to leverage data. I also think it’s interesting how they are looking to convert print readers in the UK to subscribers. That is different than the traditional newsstand sales in the UK, but it provides a more stable basis for their business.

How The Guardian continues to drive print revenues through subscriptions - WAN-IFRA

2023-11-24. The Guardian has maintained its subscription growth in print while also growing its digital revenues and audience, which now has 81 million unique monthly visitors globally. Guardian’s publishing director Mylene Sylvestre explains how they have achieved this.

wan-ifra.org/2023/11/how-the-guardian-continues-to-drive-print-revenues-through-subscriptions

And licencing deals like this one for the Guardian are a new source of revenue for major newspapers and other publishers.

Guardian strikes TV and film deal with company behind The Crown

Collaboration will give Sony Pictures Entertainment exclusive first-look rights to Guardian’s global journalism

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/29/guardian-strikes-tv-and-film-deal-with-company-behind-the-crown

I had to double-check the date on this story. Is is 2023 or 2017? No, it is definitely this year. Subscriptions for groups have been around for a while, but this is a good case study of how they could work for local publishers. Subscribers get access to special content including dedicated discussion groups, exclusive content, polls and a special badge on their profile. It is an interesting play for a local publisher. Could this scale for larger publishers?

Facebook subscriptions: Could Meta still be a friend for publishers?

Small local newsbrand Pulman's Weekly News has got more than 500 Facebook subscriptions in under one month.

pressgazette.co.uk/social_media/facebook-subscriptions-news-publishers

For all of the smart uses of AI, there are some very public and very stupid uses of it that will damage a lot of businesses and the use cases for AI. Following Sports Illustrated being caught using AI to generate content. Publishers under pressure will be using generative AI. Will it be enough for readers to alert them that the piece was written by AI? Or will it further erode trust?

The tsunami of crap has arrived

Bring in the bots

open.substack.com/pub/therebooting/p/the-tsunami-of-crap-has-arrived?r=1u7ee&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

And here is an article about the Sports Illustrated AI controversy. So sad.

Sports Illustrated accused of publishing AI-written articles

The Sports Illustrated union said staff were "horrified" and demanded "basic journalistic standards".

www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67560354

It is positive to see the industry being proactive with policies and processes to govern the use of AI in journalism. In another excellent piece from The Fix they dig into the new Reporters without Borders guidelines. One criticism of the guidelines is that they were not written by a broad group of stakeholders. They were written with journalism unions and researchers only, The Fix says. I also find it interesting that WAN-IFRA has decided not to promote the charter due to unrealistic expectations. It’s a valuable piece.

Review of RSF’s new guidelines on using AI in journalism: what they achieve and where they fall short - The Fix

A critical look into the Paris Charter on AI and Journalism developed by Reporters Without Borders and 16 partners

thefix.media/2023/11/24/review-of-rsfs-new-guidelines-on-using-ai-in-journalism-what-they-achieve-and-where-they-fall-shor

A thoughtful piece from The Conversation on what news organisations are doing as their content fades, or in the case of Canada has completely disappeared on Facebook, on social media platforms.

The news is fading from sight on big social media platforms – where does that leave journalism?

Social media platforms are abandoning news – which is bad news for traditional media organisations that have come to rely on them for consumers.

theconversation.com/the-news-is-fading-from-sight-on-big-social-media-platforms-where-does-that-leave-journalism-218522

Just a few weeks before the Online News Act is set to go into effect in Canada, Google has struck a deal with Google. I am sure that news companies are hoping that a similar deal can now be struck with Facebook and that their visibility online will be restored.

Social Media this week: Musk drops the F-bomb on advertisers and disinformation networks build ahead of the US elections

Ahead of the US elections, Russian and Chinese misinformation networks are growing their audiences, Meta has warned. It is a worrying that after all that has happened over the last eight years that the US does not seem prepared to tackle this issue. But efforts to deal with them seem to have been hampered by partisanship.

And, of course, Elon Musk looks to be preparing for a messy divorce with advertisers. This comes as those in the ad industry are calling on CEO Linda Yaccarino to resign to preserve her standing and reputation in the industry.

Russian and Chinese interference networks are ‘building audiences’ ahead of 2024, warns Meta

Influence operations from Russia and China are ramping up on social media in the run-up to several key elections that will take place in 2024, Meta said in a new report.

therecord.media/russia-china-interference-networks-building-audiences-elections

5 Considerations for the Future of X Following Elon’s Anti-Advertiser Comments This Week

Elon has made his stance on advertisers clear - but will that lead to the end of the platform as we know it?

www.socialmediatoday.com/news/5-considerations-for-the-future-of-x-following-elons-anti-advertiser-comme/701372

Musk Tells Advertisers to ‘Go F--- Yourself’ if They Don’t Agree With His Comments

Elon Musk is not backing down, despite ongoing advertiser backlash over his divisive comments.

www.socialmediatoday.com/news/musk-tells-advertisers-to-go-f-yourself-if-they-dont-agree-with-his-c/701088