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Featured Post | Innovation

How NBCUniversal turned the Olympic postponement into multiplatform gold

Covering any Olympics is a monumental challenge. But broadcasters of the Toyko Games face challenges like no other in history. Few are feeling it more than NBCUniversal (NBCU) and its parent company Comcast, which hold rights to the Games. The announcement that Tokyo 2020 would be delayed until 2021 due to Covid-19, hit the media across the business – from advertising revenue to the launch of Peacock, its new streaming service.

However, just as the athletes are coming back stronger from a season off, NBC says this extra year has left them fully prepared for the challenge ahead. It recently announced plans to present 7,000 hours of Olympic coverage, making the 17-day affair the “biggest media event ever.”

“We have spent the better part of the last 14 months learning how to do things differently,” Pete Bevacqua, Chairman, NBC Sports Group, said in a recent press event on the network’s coverage plans. “Those skills … will absolutely apply themselves as we tackle what should be, I think, one of the most interesting and special Olympic Games ever.”

Olympics everywhere

Part of this new, improved package involved working up with other platforms to ensure that people can watch what they want, when they want. In addition to Comcast’s X1 pay-TV platform, partners like Roku and Apple TV will feature Olympic dashboards, which will guide viewers to the Games. NBCU has been working directly with a range of platforms to develop content that fits with the needs of their audience, given the specific delivery channel.

The network has also created strong partnerships with Google Search and Google OneBox. Many people will decide what to watch by going to Google, and NBCU is prominent in the Google OneBox with viewing information and highlights. And, significantly, NBCU will do a major programming push on Peacock, to help build audiences for the streamer. The company also recently announced that Peacock will launch on Amazon Fire TV and Fire tablets.

Peacock will feature new daily live shows and dedicated Olympics channels, as part of its Tokyo Olympics destination, which goes live on July 15. The streaming service currently has around 42 million subscribers. Matt Strauss, Comcast Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer and International, is “very optimistic” that the Olympic coverage will bring a new, larger audience. However, Strauss says the company is not prioritizing premium subscriptions as part of the Olympic push. Instead, the focus on ensuring that consumers check out the free, ad-supported, basic tier of Peacock.

The rights stuff

In addition to the 7,000 hours of content, across a plethora of platforms, NBCU will also flex the fact that it negotiated exclusive rights to the Olympics until 2032, which cuts out rival networks. The deal, which covers all media platforms, including free television, subscription TV, Internet and mobile rights, is valued at $7.65 billion.

What this means is, NBCU has rights across every platform – even those that have not yet been developed yet.

“We have the most complete set of rights of any sport that we have on any of our networks and that any network really has,” says Mark Lazarus, NBCU’s chairman of television and streaming. “Essentially, every technology known today or to be invented between now and 2032. That gives us the ability to try new things and to experiment. That’s what we’ll be doing across the platforms.”

“Our job is to pick the best platform for each piece of content, while trying to take the incredible reach that the Olympics have, the incredible reach that the NBC broadcast network has, and put it on the biggest stage.”

Twitch hit

One new partnership they are particularly excited about is Twitch. The collaboration will feature programming tailored to the Twitch community. This includes highlight studio shows, game-ified pre-Olympic activations, Olympic athlete interviews, and Olympic-themed gaming competitions.

“The way that people consume traditional sporting events is changing,” says Michael Aragon, Chief Content Officer at Twitch. “They no longer want to simply spectate. They want to be as close to the action and athletes as possible. We’ve seen this first-hand with the growth of our sports community on Twitch, as viewers tune in not only to watch their favorite athletes but to also take part in pre- and post-game interviews and virtually connect with other fans from around the world.”

Friends and family

Covid not only saw the Games postponed, 12 months, it has also put a stop to any international travel to Tokyo. This means friends and families of the athletes won’t be able to support in person. Plus, the audiences at big events will be capped at 10,000 people, or 50% capacity, whichever is smaller. This means there is even more pressure on the network to provide a ‘real’ experience for those that can’t be there.

This new challenge led to the creation of a new “Friends and Family” production unit, that will capture the reactions of loved ones back home.

According to Molly Solomon, Executive Producer, NBC Olympics and GOLF, the work and thought put into the Tokyo Games, during the pandemic, means they are going to be the “most meaningful Olympics of our lifetime.”

“After everything the world has gone through, as we begin to emerge from this pandemic, the world coming together is an incredibly impactful experience,” she says.

“We really have put together the most ambitious coverage plan ever. We’ve also adapted to the changing consumption habits. Our goal was to be everything for everyone. It’s our most coverage we’ve ever had.”

Featured Post | Innovation | Perspectives

Trends, media models and platform regulation take center stage at the 2021 DCN Next: Summit

Held virtually and expanded to five days, the 2021 edition of the member’s-only DCN Next:summit (February 1-5) was certainly unlike any that came before. Fittingly, CEO Jason Kint kicked things off by reflecting on all that has changed over the past year and, perhaps more importantly, what has not.

“Publishers have been covering three of the biggest stories of our generation, all intersecting at the same time,” he said. “Your ability to stay true to your brands and to the public trust, despite personal and professional obstacles, has been remarkable.”

Amid all of this, Kint reminded attendees that the industry will need to keep its priorities straight to fuel a stronger digital media marketplace. Indeed, a broad theme of the event was the many ways publishers are adapting to shifts accelerated by the pandemic by deepening their direct relationships with audiences.

Platform power plays

Constellation Research founder and chairman Ray Wang expanded on that topic in the opening session, an interview by BBC correspondent Larry Madowo. Noting increased competition from outside the industry, Wang called for greater cooperation among media companies.

“What we have is a fracturing in the marketplace, which is making it very hard to compete with the digital giants,” he said. “In order to succeed, you have to band together.”

Sara Fischer in conversation with Mathias Döpfner

Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner told Axios media reporter Sara Fischer that the “immensely powerful position” of tech platforms will need to be addressed by regulators. At the same time, he shared an optimistic outlook for the future of journalism. Unlike the print-centric business he took over 20 years ago, digital journalism carries lower costs, he said, allowing media companies to invest more heavily in editorial.

“You have no deadline. You have unlimited space,” Döpfner said. “And you can combine all aesthetic forms of journalism. It can be video, it can be audio, it can be text, it can be all combined. I think we are still in the early days of digital journalism and its creative potential.”

Monopolies and media models

Döpfner added that there’s a future for both subscription- and ad-supported journalism on the web, and that many organizations will continue with a mix of both. The future of advertising, however, depends on the role of platforms.

On the contrary, NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway said the key to survival for media companies will be subscriptions. He said that giving content away for free to “innovators and algorithms” was “the biggest mistake journalism ever made.”

Interviewed by Henry Blodget, the CEO of Axel Springer-owned Insider Inc., Galloway added that regulators should further address platforms’ data collection capabilities to mitigate their harmful effects.

POLITICO antitrust reporter Leah Nylen and Yale economist Fiona Scott Morton then explored potential regulatory remedies to the anti-competitive practices of tech companies. Scott Morton encouraged media companies to help educate regulators on the impact of “dominant advertising intermediaries,” such as Google.

“These markets for digital advertising are not something that most people understand,” she said. “It requires effort on the part of the affected parties to help move the conversation forward and push regulators in a direction that’s good.”

The pivot to paid

Meredith Kopit Levien in conversation with Peter Kafka

The subscription economy took center stage on Friday, when Recode senior correspondent Peter Kafka interviewed newly promoted New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien. Pushing back on the notion that the Times was becoming too dominant a player, Kopit Levien suggested that the organization is helping to create a market for paid journalism.

“There’s plenty of room for other digital journalism outlets to survive and thrive,” she said.

“We’re still in the early days of the pay model. It wasn’t that long ago that everybody said things like ‘digital news wants to be free.’ Some of our journalistic competitors are having great years for subscriptions. We look at all of that as making a market.”

To build on the 2.3 million digital subscriptions the Times sold in 2020, Kopit Levien said the outlet will be investing in covering live and developing news. Additionally, she suggested that publishers should work to reduce their dependence on third-party data to help create better digital experiences for subscribers.

Meeting audiences whenever, wherever

CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter sat with CBS News president Susan Zirinsky for a discussion on how the pandemic has accelerated shifts in the TV news business. Gone are the days of holding major scoops or interviews for primetime, Zirinsky said. Even broadcast news must adapt to a 24/7, cross-platform model.

“We want to give people facts,” Zirinsky said. “We want to share information. This is really what it’s about: being on every platform that is available, taking our unique content and putting it in as many places as a consumer is.”

Peter Kafka in conversation with Jenna Weiss-Berman and Lydia Polgreen

One of those rising platforms, audio, was the topic of conversation between Gimlet Media head of content Lydia Polgreen, Pineapple Street Studios co-founder Jenna Weiss-Berman, and Recode’s Kafka.

While advertising remains a lucrative source of revenue, Polgreen said the medium needs some advancement in terms of measurement and audience-based selling, similar to other formats. Weiss-Berman added that the mechanisms for connecting ad buyers with content creators need development. Both agreed that there is still tremendous room for growth. The next big challenge will be reaching people who don’t currently listen to podcasts.

“If you look at the research, podcast listening has tripled since 2014, in terms of share of time, but only from 2% to 6%,” Polgreen said. “In a world where audio is completely on-demand, the possibilities are pretty endless.”

The future of media and journalism

Elsewhere on the program, Snap CMO Kenny Mitchell and Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison each explored growth strategies for their respective platforms. They also touched on the importance of creator relationships and the intersection of content and community.

Julia Angwin, editor-in-chief and founder of The Markup, took attendees behind the scenes of The Atlantic’s highly successful COVID tracking project. Staff writer Alexis Madrigal, who co-founded the project, reflected on the many challenges involved in merging numerous disparate sources of data to meet a critical need for information in the early months of the pandemic.

Angwin noted that the project exemplifies the tangible benefits that journalistic endeavors can provide to the public, particularly when providing information that might be “politically inconvenient.”

Web Smith, Jarrod Dicker, and Stacy-Marie Ishmael

On the final day of the Summit, Stacy-Marie Ishmael, editorial director at The Texas Tribune, led a lively conversation with 2PM Inc. founder Web Smith and The Washington Post’s VP, commercial, Jarrod Dicker, on the future of media. In line with the trends, the discussion largely focused on the rise of independent creators.

“Twitter and other platforms have enabled individual people to build their own reputation. It’s created an entirely new landscape,” Dicker said. “Creators can see what their individual value is. I think that’s a change in the discourse.”

New year, same values

In closing, Kint said that, despite adapting well to a virtual event, he hoped to see everyone back in Miami for the 2022 DCN Next: Summit. In the interim, he advised those in attendance to focus on three key things: strengthening bonds with audiences and partners, understanding the core needs of both, and emphasizing agility in response to change.

“Every member of DCN has a direct and trusted relationship with their users and advertisers,” he said. “Our Summit is the one place where, in the comfort of a closed-door environment, surrounded by others who share our values, we can also share our successes and vulnerabilities.”

Innovation | Perspectives

Streamlined streaming: How to improve newsroom efficiency

With a rapidly evolving digital media landscape, it’s not surprising that media companies — newsrooms in particular — have faced new challenges and new pressures. A significant decline in traditional broadcast and appointment-style viewership has coincided with an explosion in increasingly accessible digital and on-demand streaming. Technology has already radically altered many of the fundamental realities around content creation and consumption that newsrooms were built on.

Media professionals recognize the need to evolve to keep pace with these changes. But connecting with and retaining content consumers who now have a virtually unlimited range of options available to them is easier said than done. More importantly, finding efficient and cost-effective ways to produce, distribute, and monetize content can seem like a formidable hurdle. But it is possible, especially with new tools and platforms emerging that are designed to enable newsrooms and other traditional content creators to make the process better fit the realities of today.

Be an educated adopter

Every platform makes big claims. All promise new efficiencies. Educate yourself and understand how to examine those claims with a critical eye. Make sure whatever path you choose, your digital content solution can efficiently develop content and create and deliver high quality viewing experiences in a way that is impactful, profitable, and sustainable. The right solution should answer important questions for you, including how to balance live and pre-recorded content, how to access and insert ads, and how to do all that in a streamlined and efficient manner.

Utilize automation

For organizations where a large majority of on-demand content originates from their live programming or other sources of traditional linear content, taking full advantage of digital streaming requires some level of automated prowess. The goal is to minimize the number of toolsets needed to be deployed throughout the process of generating digital streaming content.

Automation and “hands-free” production can yield new efficiencies, saving time and money on tools, resources, and manpower at a time when media companies are often dealing with tight margins and are already making tough ROI calculations. In that context, the ability to effectively automate the process of generating more digital content is enormously valuable. Automated tools and solutions make it possible to accelerate the digital production and distribution of your content without interrupting what you are already doing.

Lighten the workload

For media companies, creating content is just the first step. It is critically important to find ways to streamline the workflow required to efficiently edit, develop and distribute volumes of new content to digital audiences. Fortunately, new suites of tools are becoming available that can make that digital/online transition possible.

Keeping fresh content in front of viewers is difficult. Instead of relying on tools that require manual curation of playlists – and thus a person on staff dedicated to the role – consider a tool with capabilities to populate playlists automatically. This frees up staff to focus on the actual process of creating the content, rather than managing it. And the best tools on the market today also can lighten the load in other ways, from auto-clipping a newscast to the seamless transition between live and breaking news to prerecorded video.

Prioritize simplicity

At a time when some newsrooms have had to entirely reorganize to accommodate much more extensive digital production and distribution needs, simplicity is an appealing prospect. Which is why it makes sense to invest in tools meant to automate the ingestion of incoming content. Whether it’s aggregating content from multiple newsrooms or introducing content from other sources, bringing designated content from a range of different sources into the digital content ecosystem of target audiences is a way to lessen the load on your team and your resources, while still delivering compelling content.

Another important feature for streamlined simplicity is handling all of the technical heavy-lifting server-side, which makes it possible to have a simplified workflow and create a unified viewing experience across all digital platforms.

Embrace efficiency

As newsrooms evaluate and leverage tools and technology designed specifically to help them take that all-important step to expand the distribution of streaming monetizable content, it’s important to understand how efficiency translates into revenue. Monetization opportunities are all about scale. More content yields more viewers, which subsequently creates numerous opportunities for monetization. In other words, efficiency isn’t just helpful, it’s a prerequisite for sustainable profitability.

To take the next step forward, newsrooms will need to embrace tools and systems that allow them to quickly, efficiently and automatically update digital content. This includes graphic elements, closed captioning, and added metadata.

Engage viewers

Recognize the importance of the viewer experience. Manage your content with tools designed to connect content with viewers and help them understand critical context about what they are watching. Creating a better viewing experience also means letting consumers know when something is breaking news, and then returning them back to what they were originally tuned in to watch. It’s the feel of live content with dynamic elements that elevate the standard static viewing model into something more engaging.

Viewer expectations are skyrocketing. And media companies are wrestling with complex (and often costly) changes they feel like they need to make to meet those expectations. But charting a path forward in our new environment might be easier than many suspect. Streamlined content creation tools can not only make the digital transition successful for newsrooms and their operational needs; they can enhance the online viewing experience and boost bottom lines in the process.

About the author

David Hemingway is the Sr. Product Manager, New Ventures at Bitcentral, one of the video industry’s most trusted and innovative software providers.

Featured Post | Innovation

Why HBR’s Maureen Hoch is focused on high-touch content right now

Media consumption in the Covid-19 era is hitting record levels as captivated audiences try to stay on top of non-stop news headlines and updates. It’s an upward spiral that is causing a massive shift in consumer behavior. But new research from J.P. Morgan shows that audiences are specifically gravitating to established media outlets that make sense out of news developments – not just report them. 

Harvard Business Review (HBR), is finding new success – and subscribers – with a lively mix of content. Their strategy combines in-depth analysis, podcasts, and social media experiments to put all aspects of our “new normal” into perspective. From how to maintain a work-life balance to how to cope with grief and loss, HBR is increasing reach and revenues by providing audiences analysis and answers.

To kick off our new series of DCN video interviews, I talk to Maureen Hoch, Editor of  HBR.org and Managing Director, Digital Content of Harvard Business Publishing. Hoch leads Harvard Business Review’s digital newsroom and the HBP Content Lab. She joined HBR as Senior Editor in 2013. And she played an instrumental role in the redesign of HBR.org, which has since garnered three Webby awards. We discuss how HBR is harnessing podcasts and narration, as well as a growing portfolio of new audience projects, to keep audiences informed and connected. 

Here are three key takeaways from our talk:

Speed matters, but advice triumphs

At first, Hoch says, HBR switched gears to publish information and insights at a “newsroom pace.” This cemented HBR’s position as a prime destination for hard analysis, around the business impact of the crisis. But the incredible success (“millions of page views”) of high-touch articles is shaping a new approach to storytelling that focuses on people first.

Audiences have a sizeable appetite for digestible content

Longer-form content is a hit with audiences, but audio versions of magazine articles knock the ball out of the park. HBR relies on a mix of narration and curation to engage audiences online and in-app. But this is just the start as HBR continues to look for more audience-first ways to make content accessible and forge the relationships that make it happen.

Audio content strikes a chord

Podcasts are driving audience engagement and subscriber numbers. But where is the money? Hoch discusses the models working for them to power monetization and increase retention. These include selling sponsorship on a CPM basis as well as more inventive models (“exclusive audio features”).

Hoch also offers some practical tips on how to emulate HBR’s success.

Watch the full interview: 

Industry-Research

Publishers prepare for 2020 with technology investments

Digital publishers see rays of hope as they continue to monetize premium content, transform business strategies, maximize technology investments, and increase revenue diversification. Just over two-thirds (69%) of digital publishers expect to see an overall revenue growth in 2020 according to a new report, Publishers Bullish on Talent, Tech and Growth in 2020, from Folio. Of those publishers expecting revenue growth, a quarter anticipate double digits. Only 4% of participants expect revenues to decline. This research is based on 182 surveyed industry professionals accompanied by eight in-depth executive interviews.

Growth expectations

Respondents report the top three categories for revenue growth are digital advertising including branded content (58%), live events (43%), and marketing services (38%). In addition to revenue growth, audience growth is also expected in 2020. Twenty-eight percent of publishers expect a 10% growth in audience while more than one-third (36%) expect single-digit growth. 

Audience development is more than just chasing clicks on digital platforms. It’s about learning your business ecosystem and how the pieces work together. Executives cite email (54%), social media (53%), and events (44%) as the strongest performers for audience development. 

2020 priorities

Publishers recognize the need to invest in the video side (35%) of their business as well as back end technology and operation systems (34%) for content management and advertising businesses. Publishers, especially traditional magazine businesses, see video as a very lucrative way to reinvent their content strategy and distribution model with attractive advertising packages at high CPMs.

Executive interviews

Catherine Levene, President, Chief Digital Officer of Meredith Corporation, participated in Folio’s executive interviews. Meredith charted its course in preparation for 2020. Levene said Meredith is keenly focused is on innovation. This includes technology investments, including a new content management system and a first-party data and insights platform.

She also mentioned Meredith’s investments in video production and distribution and new content-to-commerce capabilities. Levene sees a win-win for their audience and advertisers, “We are creating content and experiences that drive engagement and are offering predictive advertising that achieves results for our marketing partners.”

Erin O’Mara, President of The Nation, also participated in the executive interviews. O’Mara described the digital business as more than just a website, it’s about super-serving the audience. A new initiative, “The Nation Classroom,” uses their archives to create robust teaching modules for high school student. The goal for this project is to be profitable as well as to make available to schools that cannot afford it. O’Mara see this initiative as an important step to extend a brand experience through community outreach.

As Folio’s research suggests, there is no time digital media brands to standstill. It’s essential for media companies to take the steps to identify the key business and audience strategies and investment in them.

Industry-Research

What Chartbeat’s loyalty research says about the future of device, channel strategies

In recent years, global publishers have shifted their focus on the ties that bind loyal readers and their propensity to become subscribers. Therefore, we wanted to better understand loyal reader behaviors, starting with an analysis across devices and distribution channels. Here’s what we found.

Loyal readers no longer tethered to desktops

Believe it or not, loyalty is actually higher on mobile than desktop when we analyze our global publisher data.

Across the board, mobile visitors show more loyalty. We see the accessibility of these devices — a 24/7 window into what’s going on at any moment — driving this trend. This does not mean desktop traffic is going away, it’s just often tethered to a single place (e.g., work or home), whereas your mobile device moves with you all day long.

When looking at weekly visits by traffic sources across mobile and desktop experiences, we saw that app direct visitors are nearly 6x more loyal than platform visitors.

This finding begins to make more sense when you think about publishers’ renewed focus on mobile experiences. Particularly when you consider the fact that the overall number of visits taking place on mobile increased by more than 20%.

Where visitors are finding apps and how it impacts loyalty

Visitors coming to apps via deep links or direct traffic on the web do so three times more often than platform visitors, as we see below. That said, our research found that at this point loyalty is roughly the same when it comes to the major platforms (i.e., Facebook and Google Search).

What our channel loyal findings mean for content creators

“Subscription is an act of loyalty, and readers need some way of developing that loyalty and affinity for a publication before they’re likely to pay,” Josh Schwartz, our Chief of Product, Engineering and Data Science, recently told Nieman Lab on the topic of reader revenue and loyalty. The data we outlined in this piece suggests that publishers are increasingly aware of this journey to develop loyalty, using multiple channels (and increasingly, mobile-first experiences) to grow these relationships over time.

A few other takeaways from the research:

Shift in app experiences suggests new paths to loyalty

The data suggests that loyal readers want a direct path to publishers — a huge indicator that there’s value in improving app and direct to mobile experiences. That being said, friction along the mobile journey poses a massive hurdle in getting even loyal readers to move closer to subscription.

Platforms still have a prominent role in loyal readership

Yes, we’re seeing an interesting shift in visitor patterns that favor direct visits to apps. Yet, loyal readers are still coming from Google or Facebook. Our recent research shows that there’s still a case to keep your platform presence top of mind.

Movement matters when it comes to device-based loyalty

Loyalty among mobile visitors is growing rapidly. This finding makes sense when you think about today’s mobile-first readers. Don’t go abandoning your investments in desktop, especially since we still depend on this experience every day.

Overall, we see that loyalty among mobile visitors is growing rapidly, which makes more sense as we think about today’s mobile-first readers. Moreover, it points to an important shift in audience behavior — loyal readers want a direct path to publishers. This tells us there’s still a massive opportunity to improve app and direct to mobile experiences. 

Industry-Research

Distribution, operations, and reporting key in newsroom transformation

Traditional news channels are transforming into hybrid newsrooms, combining digital platforms into an integrated business model according to The 2019 State of Technology in Global Newsrooms Report. In fact, half of the newsrooms in six of eight global regions are now hybrid. This research was conducted by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) in 149 countries, in 14 languages, and completed by more than 4,100 journalists and news managers.

Some of the ICFJ ‘s key findings include:

Newsrooms mix formats to distribute their content with social media as the dominant platform.

  • Content distribution increased with two-thirds of news organizations distributing content in at least four formats, compared to 40% that did in 2017.
  • In terms of social media tools, Facebook (90%) and Twitter (73%) lead the pack. They are followed by YouTube, which grew to 60% usage from 48% in 2017 and Instagram, now at 48%, which is up from 33% in 2017.
  • Instant messaging apps as content distribution channels have declined in seven out of eight regions over the last two years. Eurasia/former USSR, Europe and North America registered the largest declines, 20 percentage points, 16, and 10, respectively.

Security and new technologies are part of the day-to-day workflow.

  • More than two-thirds of journalists and newsrooms secure their communications while only half did in 2017. In fact, in North American newsrooms, the percentage of those that secure their communications doubled to 82%. The preferred method of security is encrypted messaging apps.
  • One-third of news organizations employ dedicated fact-checkers. In addition, 44% of newsrooms and 37% of journalists said they engage in more fact-checking activities than they did the previous year.
  • More than twice as many journalists use social media verification tools today compared to 2017.

Most news organizations aim to dismantle misinformation and work to build trust.

  • Seventy-five percent of managers worry about the impact of misinformation. However, less than half of journalists believe that it impacts their day-to-day work.
  • Almost half of newsrooms are better at separating news stories from opinion pieces.
  • More than three-quarters (37%) of news managers in North America report building trust as a major challenge, up from 29% two years ago.

Government and politics dominate news coverage.

  • Government and politics dominant news journalism with the exception of news radio. Radio is more likely to cover specialized beats. In fact, 42% of news radio covers education and 43% covers health compared to 27% of websites that cover these topics.
  • While nearly one-third of journalists do some investigative reporting, this group appears to be quite limited with only 12% identifying as investigative reporters.
  • Smaller newsrooms appear to offer a community focus news and are twice as likely to report on local news as larger outlets. Twenty percent of small newsrooms cover local and hyperlocal events, compared to 10% of larger newsrooms (26+ employees).

More women are leading in journalism.

  • Women hold half or more of newsroom management positions in four of the eight regions. On average, one-third of management jobs globally are held by women. However, female leadership varies greatly by region.
  • Leading with women in newsroom management are Eurasia/former USSR at 62%, North America at 56%, Europe at 51%, and Latin America/Caribbean at 49%.
  • Women comprise 56% of newsroom employees in North America and 51% in Europe.
  • On average, women are 40% of the journalists in newsrooms worldwide.
  • Interestingly, more women (25%) compared to men (15%) report not having digital experience at the time they were hired.

This ICFJ study offers insight into the transition of traditional news outlets to hybrid news outlets with digital platforms integrations. It identifies the newsroom journey to improve the quality of news reporting. Newsroom operations must now include the fight against disinformation, the promotion of trusted news brands, the addition of heightened security, and the usage of enhanced data analytics.

Innovation | Video

OTT distribution channels are changing. Be ready

OTT players and channels are changing faster than the seasons. The spring will bring a crop of new streaming entrants, joining an already crowded market. Still dominated by Netflix, a growing number of major players are drawing video viewers.

In the publishing industry, a remarkable level of transformation is happening by way of mergers that are driven, in part, by capacity to produce video. Recently, Vox Media and New York Media joined forces. This followed close on the heels of the recent tie ups of Group Nine Media and PopSugar along with Vice Media and Refinery29. An underlying theme is upping the production of quality video programming for seeking OTT platforms and rising streaming channels battling for subscribers. So, the question is: How will consumers be watching?

Get SmartTV

The answer is on a Smart TV—whether a Vizio with WatchFree powered by Pluto TV or an LG with LG Channels powered by Xumo—the CTV universe is made up of a growing number of streaming channels (or so-called FAST services). Now, major OTT platforms are following suit with Fire TV’s IMDb TV and Roku’s The Roku Channel.

In this dynamic, programming from media companies is produced in a seller’s market as FAST services look to differentiate with new and, if possible, exclusive content. The goal is to set themselves apart from aggregated CTV ad budgets. The result is that programming is starting to be distributed on 24/7 streaming channels (like the advent of cable news). The end game is to develop an audience that can be channeled to an owned and operated network/app.

Streaming channels that take form of the lean back TV world are also coming over-the-top via leading cable/MVPD companies. For example, Spectrum recently released a skinny bundle that allows viewers to choose what they actually want to watch. And that’s for approximately the same price as an SVOD service like Netflix. The skinny bundle is trending.

Netflix vs. niche

So, here we are. We find ourselves at an interesting intersection of an on-demand world (with active content discovery and viewing) and a programmed channel world with passive watching of round-the-clock streaming content. The king of OTT and SVOD, Netflix, is ad-free. It also set a high bar with premium content licensing and quality original shows as it outspends the competition.

However, we see an emerging universe fueled by advertising/AVOD and channels that run 24/7 content of essentially any genre of choice as an expanding orbit of media publishers become producers of OTT programming. On the sidelines, streaming sports and leagues are expanding their own OTT plus channels. This delivers their content straight to fans or through digital upstarts that make sports the core of their offerings, like Fubo and DAZN.

The best of the bunch

The pendulum is going to swing in a direction that improves the TV experience the most. At the heart of it all is content discovery and recommendation. The next show you’re going to watch is still the biggest unknown. According to the State of Viewing and Streaming study released by Horowitz Research last year, just over one-third (36%) of viewers consider personalized recommendation algorithms helpful in discovering shows. Whereas TV ads, word-of-mouth, and social media are attributed with 35%, 34% and 26%, respectively in frequency of new discovery. The better the content recommendation, the more that will be watched on-demand.

From there, the more “connected” your TV experience, the more it will look like a digital network versus a TV network. It will become a more social and shareable experience. The advertising that puts the A in AVOD will increase in value as it becomes more data driven complying with user privacy and better in targeting viewers. The better the social integration, the more that will be watched on constant programmed channels.

The lessons have been learned by media companies is that they must maintain their own brand and operated environments in the world of platforms. However, they must continue to experiment with publishing channels to direct audiences and own distribution (and monetization). In the grand experiment of OTT programming, content is being produced and distributed in 24/7 streams to start up on platforms that garner the greatest audience for the brand. The future of OTT is here, flipping your favorite channel.

Innovation | Revenue

For Group Nine Media president Christa Carone, brand equity is good business

I recently connected with Christa Carone, who joined Group Nine Media as president in 2017, at the Collision Conference in Toronto, Canada. Carone, who came to the media side of the industry after leadership roles on the marketing and agency side, oversees Group Nine’s sales and marketing teams as well as its data insights group. Group Nine is a digital media holding company comprised of four popular digitally-native media brands Thrillist, The Dodo, Seeker, and NowThis. Carone and I discussed revenue and distribution diversification, content strategy, and building a business based on brand equity.

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

Michelle Manafy: Tell me a little bit about your content distribution strategy and why you are all-in on social.


Christa Carone is President of Group Nine Media. Prior, Carone spent 17 years at Xerox Corporation, most recently serving as CMO.

Christa Carone: Well, I’d say we’re all-in on omni channel—and that includes social. Right now, we’re distributing content on over 20 different platforms. That includes Amazon Prime, Pluto, Roku, and distribution deals with networks literally around the world. So, our approach to being completely agnostic on distribution is that we want to bring our content to all of the different places where people are spending their time. And we want that to be a pretty frictionless experience. Instead of spending a ton of money to get you to come to my website, I want to bring our storytelling to the place where you are already hanging out.

Michelle Manafy: Truly connecting with audiences at scale almost sounds like almost an oxymoron to me. What do you think?

Christa Carone: You can debate that content is king and distribution is queen and whether they have an equal seat at the table. But that’s really kind of how I look at it. When both are working together extremely well, you are able to build successful brands like The Dodo, NowThis, Thrillist, and Seeker. It’s like really honing-in on higher value content. We’re building lifetime value of the content, what’s going to keep an audience interested, and remain totally agnostic on the distribution strategy.

Michelle Manafy: The trick, of course, is the monetization. The other side of a distributed model is fragmentation. So, talk to me a little bit about how managing all of those channels ties into an overarching strategy.

Christa Carone: The beauty of our strategy is diversification. I often say that if Facebook sneezes, we don’t want to catch a cold. Just like in any industry, you don’t want to be overly dependent on one particular revenue stream. It’s business 101. Media is no different than any other type of business. So, that’s why we’ve been so focused on building audiences across a number of different channels. We’re building audience on TikTok right now. The monetization strategy there is nascent. But it’s going to come. IGTV is another great example. We produce great content for IGTV and put it on IGTV pre-revenue. But I have no doubt at all that Facebook is going to open up monetization opportunities there. And I want to have established an audience when it does.

Michelle Manafy: You mentioned diversification and that every company should be focused on diversified revenue. I take it that Group Nine that’s been baked in from the start.

Christa Carone: Keep in mind that we’re two years old. So, we’ve had the benefit of learning from a lot of traditional companies. And I often say: We’re not pivoting to anything. Some of our brands were born into video so there wasn’t a pivot to video. And the business model was already established. Some of our brands were social first. NowThis, in particular, was born as a social-first distributed brand. We didn’t pivot our business model from taking audience from owned and operated to distributing through external platforms.

Thrillist is the oldest of our brands and it has such a loyal audience. So, we are looking at diversification around where we can take the Thrillist brand and make it more of a whole-lifestyle brand.

Overall, our focus is on lifetime value for the content. So, if we’re bringing in revenue with licensing, great. Bringing in revenue from the syndication model, great. If we’re bringing in revenue by production deals with OTT content providers, like a Netflix, that’s perfect. And if we are continuing to bring in a healthy amount of revenue from advertising, wonderful. And increasingly we’re thinking about how we can tap into other revenue streams like commerce and events.

Michelle Manafy: Could you tell me a little bit about your commerce strategy?

Christa Carone: Our approach to commerce is really looking at brands like The Dodo and Thrillist and saying there’s intellectual property here. There’s a maniacally loyal fanbase. Can we be licensing The Dodo into product? The Dodo clearly has enough brand equity to be producing large scale consumer and canine events. Thrillist has been a friend to people for a long time. It is your recommendation action for food and beverage and travel. So, our ability to take that brand equity and bring it into commerce is already built in. And stay tuned: We will definitely be doing some more on that later this year and we just hired a head of ecommerce.

Michelle Manafy: So, you mentioned that maniacal audience, that loyal audience. What’s the Group Nine secret? Because, as publishers, that audience relationship is what differentiates us from the platforms.

Christa Carone: It’s such a credit to our editorial teams. They know how weave a great narrative and tell an amazing story. It sounds simple but I’m always amazed … A great example is from NowThis. Many people are familiar with the NowThis video about Beto O’Rourke that went viral. The raw footage of that video was already posted on Twitter. It already lived on the Internet someplace. The NowThis team found it and was able to put it through their storytelling lens. They said how can we construct it in such a way that viewers are compelled to watch the entire piece? There is an art to it. There is a narrative that was built in through the use of text on the screen, through the use of effective editing so that we as the viewer were compelled to watch it from start to finish. That is the secret sauce that really exists within our editorial teams and applies to how we produce content across all of our brands.

I would say the other massive factor for us is that scale matters. We have such amazing insights that we’re able to glean from the consumption of our videos that informs how we produce content. Based on our scale, our data team is looking at 115,000 views of our content every minute. Every minute. We’ve built a very sophisticated data engine that is able to pull in insights for things like the right color for the text on the screen, the right size of font, the number of words that should be on your screen, the fact that videos about dogs have three times longer watch time than videos around cats. So, the editorial team can say maybe that dog video should be three and a half minutes but maybe that cat videos should just be two or something along those lines. You’re able to really start to use these signals to inform your storytelling.

Michelle Manafy: So, what’s your growth plan?

Christa Carone: Our business is really becoming much more analogous to a TV buy. What I mean by that is that we have access to sell all of the pre-roll against all of Group Nine content across all of the major platforms. So, you have a television commercial and you are in, say, an auto company and the pet owner is really interesting to you. You can come to us and have 100 percent share of voice across all Dodo content on Facebook, on Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat. You can buy our pre-roll on our channels and transact that directly through Group Nine instead of the platforms. Brands are responsive to it because of the importance of brand safety. When you have the brand safety conversation with a marketer, you need to be able to say here’s the right audience and it is against premium, brand safe content. It’s fascinating to me that we’re having more conversations with TV buyers who are shifting that investment from linear to wherever they can get eyeballs.

Michelle Manafy: I’m finding the distinction between television and all digital video is increasingly blurred, particularly for buyers.

Christa Carone: Completely. I think we have to redefine what TV means. So, TV is not a device anymore. When the linear players, the cable players start talking about TV everywhere, we’re in that boat. It includes YouTube, it can arguably be IGTV, it could be lean-back viewing on Facebook… It can be TikTok. How define TV going forward is going to be interesting.

Michelle Manafy: Talk to me about how you’re innovating and how the industry needs to innovate.

Christa Carone: Maybe for some media companies, diversification is innovative. It’s different at Group Nine because we were born that way. We’ve learned so much from how past companies have run that we know what we need to do as a media company. I feel like innovation is really coming through how companies are able to scale intellectual property.

Michelle Manafy: Your background is marketing. How does that impact your leadership and view of your organization?

Christa Carone: I mean that’s been such an advantage coming into a company like Group Nine. What I’m able to tap into is the perspective of a marketer and think of everything we’re doing from the perspective of the client. Will an advertiser really buy into this? I come from companies with significant brand equity so I’m a massive believer in intellectual property and that’s what appeals to me about Group Nine. these aren’t four media companies. These are four brands. So: How can we look at building brand equity that isn’t just about one particular revenue stream? That has been super helpful to me to bring more of an innovative marketing approach to building brands.

Featured Post | Innovation

For Hearst’s Kate Lewis, data fuels strategy but the audience is in the driver’s seat

Reading Kate Lewis’s list of responsibilities as Chief Content Officer of Hearst Magazines boggles the mind. She oversees content strategy, which includes managing all of the company’s editors-in-chief and digital directors in the U.S., while working with its international network to coordinate global content.

Keep in mind that Hearst is a sprawling global publishing empire with 300 print editions and 240 digital brands. Lewis in charge of the 25 print and 25 digital publications in the U.S. The former has an audience of 89 million, the latter 108 million.

Kate Lewis, Chief Content Officer of Hearst Magazines

As though that weren’t enough for any single human, she also works closely with the product and technology teams, consumer marketing, and the division’s branded content unit, HearstMade – just in case she has some spare time.

Lewis is in constant motion. One thing is clear, to monitor this network of brands, she has become keenly aware of the value of data, which drives strategy across both print and digital. It also provides her with critical insights into the audience’s needs, desires, and expectations.

It’s all about that audience

Given her broad purview, Lewis has developed a core guiding philosophy (and great communications skills), which allows her to maintain a consistent approach while also considering each publication’s unique audience.

“Our approach is driven by our audience. What do they want from us, brand-by-brand, on every platform where we deliver content. We create and design content differently depending on the platform. And, of course, print is a huge platform for us. It’s where this all started! So, the thinking first will always be: ‘What does the audience want from us in this encounter?’ And yes, that is always evolving,” she explained.

As an example of that evolution, she points out that when she started at Hearst, they were very focused on Facebook to drive traffic. Now, they think about it as a way to get video views, among other things. “This kind of persistent change is something that feels digital in nature, but I think will be meaningful in the print world,” she said.

Digging the data

Back in the days before digital, it was hard to know much about your audience beyond subscriber numbers and some basic demographics. However, Lewis points out that today, print publications have access to the same data as the digital properties so that both can take advantage of it.

That means arming editors with as much information as possible. Hearst has a dedicated data operation called Hearst Data Studios, which feeds data across the brands. “This comes down to the efforts of our Hearst Data Studio, as well as an openness to sharing the data, the insights we have across our many, many brands.”

Beyond that, Lewis said that employees need transparency about how she is using the data internally to measure success or failure. “Sharing and being honest about wins and fails will be key. And truly defining, clearly, what a win and a loss is. My feeling is that content can rise from access to data, collaborative editors, and clear goals. We have established all the above amongst the digital team and I hope to add to what’s already being done on print.”

The future is now

Lewis believes that the biggest challenge on the content side of things remains distribution. And, she says that it’s getting harder to know your audience when it comes from many different sources. “People still hunger for content, big and small, but our direct connection to them has been somewhat obfuscated. It can be challenging to get in their face these days whether because of the decreasing number of newsstands or the increasing presence of social media. Our audience is huge but comes to us in many ways, not necessarily directly,” she said.

One way that media companies have tried to keep their audience front and center is through newsletters. Lewis acknowledges newsletters provide a kind of direct connection. However, she worries that consumer inboxes are becoming overloaded, which may sever that direct link. She sees chat as one way to fill the gap. “Chat is pervasive from grandmas to 10-year-olds,” she said. She also sees voice-driven media like Alexa and Siri also coming into play once they mature.

Ultimately, though, Lewis feels that everything boils down to audience engagement. It’s up to brands to figure out how best to keep the audience coming back as technology continually changes the way consumers interact with content creators. “Brands evolve based on generations and trends and the measure of good, and as the caretakers of the brands we’ll push them to be relevant and worth engaging with.”

Perspectives | Revenue

What happens when you take “publishing” out of the “publishing business”

In May of 2017, Bill Simmons, former ESPN personality and creator of The Ringer, made an interesting decision to move his successful sports media empire to Vox Media.  Simmons maintained editorial independence but relied on Vox for all the non-content creation requirements of a traditional publisher. This included all revenue and product development because as Simmons said “they are great at sales and technology.”  The plan, it seems, was to offload the “publishing” part of the publishing business. This allowed Simmons to focus on content creation for his widely popular podcast and website.

This wasn’t a viable model 20 years ago when publishers had established oligopolies by controlling distribution in their respective geographic regions. As a result, the publishing needs of the business, HR, printing press, sales, and distribution existed to support editorial and content creation. Now that the internet has driven distribution costs to near $0, and oligopolies no longer exists, there is little need to combine traditional publishing sales, product and HR overhead with the journalism it is intended to support.

Even so, content creations like Simmons still need to make money. To do so, they rely on content management platforms like Chorus, the purpose-built platform Vox created to manage content and revenue. As of July, Chorus supported 350 media brands. The system includes “content management, data-informed multi-platform content distribution, integrated advertising, and a suite of publishing tools.”  Media brands that strip away activities not directly related to content creation establish a sustainable model that allows them to create even more great content, a reinforcing cycle of success.

In his May 2017 post, Ben Thompson covered the changing business model while referring to platforms like Vox’s as the “Faceless Publisher.” The platform handles all the monetization, resources, and infrastructure, which allows journalists to focus on creating amazing content.

The term “Faceless Publisher” might be a misnomer in Vox’s case given they have established several great brands in the market including SB Nation, Vox and Eater. However, it is clear that this federated group of journalistic brands, supported by a single business platform, creates great efficiencies. This efficiency will deliver what readers and content creators need: a sustainable business model that delivers amazing content.

 

Perspectives

Facebook: Take out the trash

After last week’s uproar over Mark Zuckerberg’s comments on censorship, Axios asked experts what they would do to decrease the fake news on Facebook. Clearly, this is not a simple problem to address but we must. In fact, because Facebook hasn’t taken proper action over the past two years, governments all over the world have stepped in to take steps to address the problem of misinformation.

As the trade organization representing media brands that seek long-term consumer trust through the creation of high quality news, information, and entertainment, we take the problem very seriously. In 2016, we wrote an unanswered letter to the CEOs of Facebook and Google – Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai – to provide our perspective on the dangerous proliferation of “fake news” throughout the digital ecosystem.

In the letter we asked Facebook to aggressively harness their brilliant minds and massive resources to clean up the garbage that was flowing, with little friction, through their platform. We also cautioned against acting as a censor. Given the escalation of concerns and the fact that the 2018 midterm elections are less than 100 days away, it’s critical that Facebook take more significant and concrete actions to help ensure their platform isn’t used against our democracy again.

In the spirit of transparency, here are a few things we mentioned to Axios that Facebook could do today.

  • Eliminate the viral and monetization benefits for known fake news peddlers. Take Infowars as an obvious example. (1) At this point, Infowars should only reach users who explicitly follow its account. We’re not asking for the account to be banned entirely, although the arguments to do so are reasonable at this point. (2) Infowars shouldn’t be able to buy advertising with creative containing links to Infowars content and (3) user activity (likes/clicks) on Infowars content should not enhance its presence in the feeds of users who don’t follow it. Essentially, their content shouldn’t be exposed to users unless they explicitly ask for it. It’s why on Tuesday I asked what percentage of the views of a grotesque Infowars clip were viewed by Infowars followers. The answer could be very revealing.
  • Publish a clear escalation policy (as YouTube does) which would suspend and permanently ban accounts which repeatedly violate their hate speech and harassment rules. Although YouTube’s escalation seems to have loopholes and oddities, as proven yesterday, it’s at least transparent and up for scrutiny by the public.
  • Elevate the brand presence around content. The brand is a proxy for trust and Facebook (and Google) have long minimized the brand in their experiences. This is important for those who have built up trust through their reputation but it’s also important to newer publishers who want to build their brands. If you’re reading an Axios story on Facebook in your feed, you should know the source. Likewise, if you’re reading a Russia Today story, you should know the source.
  • Develop a transparent ranking system by domain/brand. This is not a novel approach: Google does it. Email services do it. If Infowars wants to keep publishing garbage, then let’s see their domain score fall off a cliff. The score has to mean something. The fact is that most respectable news publishers, regardless of subject matter or leanings, would score well and not be impacted. However, the trash would get taken out.
  • Hire more human moderators. Algorithms are amazing but personal responsibility should involve people. The company needs to take ownership over its “news feed” or stop calling it a “news feed.” We also need transparency on where these moderators are being hired. As platforms have challenged the economics of local news, we’ve also lost local accountability to the public. Moderators need the proper context for the areas, countries and cultures they’re serving.
  • Engage with member associations and non-profits to get advice on codes of conduct that responsible news organizations follow. Facebook had a significant misstep here when they rolled out their political advertising labels and archive. They dangerously conflated boosted news coverage about political issues with advertising about political issues. Facebook chose to ignore counsel from publishers and shut off communication with member associations despite more than 20,000 news publishers expressing concern to its CEO and COO.

A couple of executives at what is arguably the most impactful news distributor on the planet are making business decisions that have a massive impact on the political dialogue in our democracy. They should thoughtfully listen to concerns, advice, and legal inquiry in order to become a responsible member of the digital ecosystem from which they reap great profit. The problem of misinformation is not small, it is not easy, but it’s a problem that we all have a stake in solving.

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