DCN is proud to support our members and the health of the digital media industry overall. Thus, we are pleased to share some of the incredible work our members and other media companies are doing to recognize Juneteenth and its cultural significance in the American experience.
In an era where digital media, social platforms, and cutting-edge technology constantly redefine how we consume and interact with news, understanding the dynamics of the news ecosystem is crucial. Each year, Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report aims to unravel these transformations, provide insights into future challenges and uncover opportunities for news organizations. Remarkably, this year’s report reveals a notable resurgence in news interest and trust within the United States, following a significant decline witnessed in the previous year.
News engagement and trust
According to the report’s U.S. survey, 73% of respondents report accessing news at least once per day, a 6-percentage point increase from the previous year. This rise in news consumption highlights a recovery from the “tuning out” phenomenon that followed the Trump presidency and the height of the COVID pandemic. Although news engagement remains below the peak levels observed during those periods, recent increases offer hope for a rebound.
Moreover, the survey reveals that interest in the news is recovering somewhat, while trust in the news is also experiencing a significant rebound of 6 percentage points following last year’s lows. These findings indicate a positive shift in public sentiment toward news organizations and their credibility.
Local and national news challenges
Despite the signs of increased news engagement and trust, the news industry continues to grapple with economic turmoil. Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the states, announced a 6% reduction in its U.S. media division, resulting in approximately 200 job cuts. This move follows previous layoffs of 400 employees at Gannett publications. The local news sector is most affected by the closure of over 360 newspapers between late 2019 and May 2022, predominantly weekly newspapers serving small to mid-size communities.
Recognizing the importance of local news, efforts to preserve it are proliferating. These initiatives include the adoption of non-profit and diversified commercial business models, the establishment of start-up labs, and the availability of local and national funding opportunities. There is also a trend towards returning to local ownership, as communities recognize the value of having a reliable and independent local news source.
The news industry’s difficulties extend beyond the local level, with major national media organizations also experiencing difficulties (and the media industry as a whole suffering from record level reductions). CNN announced layoffs affecting hundreds of employees, including discontinuing live programming on HLN, its sister channel. National Public Radio (NPR) cut 10% of its staff and stopped production on four popular podcasts due to a $30 million budget deficit. Vox Media laid off 7% of its workforce, and BuzzFeed closed its entire news division, citing a lack of support from major platforms.
Subscription growth
On a more positive note, the U.S., the subscription landscape for news consumption is thriving, with around 56% of subscribers opting for two or more subscriptions. Additionally, the popularity of platform-based news subscription products, including Apple News+, with 18% of U.S. subscribers, is also rising. Interestingly, this trend of multiple subscriptions is not limited to the U.S. Australia, Spain, and France are also witnessing a surge in second subscriptions.
Within the U.S., 8% of subscribers are willing to pay for newsletters written by individual journalists or influencers, while 5% opt for podcasts or YouTube channel subscriptions. This trend of paying for content from independent creators is still predominantly within the U.S. market. The willingness to invest in personalized newsletters and content from individual creators suggests a growing demand for alternative news sources and a desire for unique perspectives. Although currently more prevalent in the U.S., this trend could expand to other markets as news consumers seek specialized and personalized content.
Social media shifts
The report finds declining engagement with Facebook and the rise of TikTok and a range of other video-led networks. Younger audiences show a weaker connection with news brands’ own websites and apps than previous cohorts – preferring to access news via side-door routes such as social media, search, or mobile aggregators.
Social media as a news access point continues to raise concerns about the potential impact on the diversity and quality of news. With algorithms often prioritizing engagement and clickbait-style content, there is a need for critical evaluation of the information consumed through social media platforms. News and media literacy education remain crucial in equipping individuals to discern credible news sources and navigate their social media-driven news consumption.
A.I. impacts journalism
Debates persist among journalists and researchers regarding the challenges and opportunities posed by A.I. in journalism. Some news outlets, such as BuzzFeed, are using A.I. to create travel guides and quizzes, while Bloomberg has launched its own GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) tool. Nevertheless, many journalists and newsrooms still have concerns about generative A.I.
Amidst a challenging landscape, the Digital News Report 2023 offers encouraging findings of news interest and trust making a comeback in the U.S. Despite economic difficulties and workforce reductions, there are also positive signs, such as a rise in subscriptions and newsletters, which highlight the growth of sustainable paths in journalism.
Last week, over 400 attendees from 43 countries descended upon the Portuguese seaside town of Cascais for the 45th FIPP World Media Congress. They heard from more than 70 international speakers on a range of topics.
Here are three key themes that caught my eye from among the many insightful talks, demos, and individual conversations that I enjoyed over the course of the event.
1. It’s all about AI
Not surprisingly, it was impossible to ignore artificial intelligence. AI was mentioned in every session, reflecting AI’s dominance in shaping media strategies and operations, as well as the speed with which it is developing.
Despite universal interest, media companies and publishers are at different stages of their journey with this technology.
Jan Thoresen in discussion with Damian Radcliffe at FIPP World Media Congress. Photo credit: Reidar Hammerfjeld
Bonnie Kintzer, president and CEO of TMB (Trusted Media Brands) explained how the company is “leaning into AI and Machine Learning.” They have set up an internal task force to help understand the risks of AI, as well as identify the best ways to use AI tools to grow their business.
For others, AI is already at the heart of what they do. Jan Thoresen, at Labrador CMS shared how AI was baked into their platform. With an emphasis on productivity and improving workflow, their content management system uses AI to create headlines, metadata, and tags, as well as produce story summaries.
“We try to make the tech disappear for the journalist,” he said. “Breaking news can´t wait,” he told us, “and you can´t wait for a developer or designer to deliver special effects. The tools have to be at the fingers of your reporters and editors.”
Juan Señor, President of Innovation Media Consulting, outlined what he sees as the transformative power of Generative AI. He predicts this technology will transform digital and create “AI-first” media companies. That may mean that “AI-first” becomes the new “digital-first,” essentially meaning companies prioritize–and seek to tackle challenges, opportunities and processes–with an AI solution at its heart. (FWIW: It’s an approach that Richard Heimann’s book Doing AIcautions against given concerns that companies may have with the solution, rather than the problem they are trying to solve.)
Aside from AI-generated content (images, text and videos), he anticipates other opportunities for publishers. “AI will never find the news, AI will never find the stories,” he told delegates. In fact, with this technology potentially ushering in a new era of fake news, Señor stressed the value of verification, trust and objectivity; areas he believes that publishers should lean into.
He also cautioned about some of the potential pitfalls.
“AI will supplant social and search,” he predicts. On that front, he emphasizes the importance of ensuring that publishers protect their IP, especially from scraping by AI tools. Others—such as the music industry—are already further advanced in tackling this issue.
Señor also recommended content creators learn from past mistakes. That means not getting into bed with tech companies on the promise that a revenue model will be worked out down the line. “We cannot rely on someone else’s platform to build our business,“ he cautioned.
2. Understanding your audience is paramount
Juan Señor Photo credit Damian Radcliffe
Connecting with your audiences was another thread that ran throughout the event. This is essential not just for acquisition and retention, but also for revenue diversification.
Dr. Jens Mueffelmann, Executive Chairman of Bonnier, talked about how the company had developed its Marlin property to “move beyond a $10 magazine.” As part of this, he outlined the importance of their multichannel offering and the creation of new income streams under the “umbrella brand” of Marlin Expeditions.
This includes large-scale fishing tournaments, several of which featured participants with an average net worth of $10 million, as well as smaller expeditions. The success of these ventures is such that between 2020-2022, media accounted for just over a third (34%) of Marlin’s revenues. Tournaments, in contrast, generated 55% of their revenue.
As a result, earlier this year, the company created a new structure “built around brands and communities instead of products.” This includes the creation of a new “Marine Division” which oversees all print, digital and broadcast assets in this space, as well as relevant tournaments and expeditions. As Mueffelmann wrote on LinkedIn, when sharing these developments, “First the vision, then the strategy and now the structure…..as taught in business school.”
At TMB, revenue diversification comes in many forms including advertising, commerce, production and licensing. But the relationship with the audience is integral to many of these efforts.
Dr. Jens Mueffelmann Photo credit: Damian Radcliffe
The century-old company’s tagline is “Content. Inspired by You.” Many of its properties rely on audience-generated content. Therefore, it is integral to nurture and nourish those relationships.
For example, Taste of Home’s recipes are supplied by home cooks. And across their portfolio of brands, more than 350k people submit content ranging from videos to photographs, tips (e.g., Family Handyman) to jokes (Reader’s Digest), and more.
Relationship management also shapes revenue strategies as well as editorial. TMB’s affiliate revenues are up 72% year-on-year, but all of this content is written by their editors, not PRs or AI. “When you have the trust of your audience you must be careful to preserve that trust,” Kintzer said.
For Kerin O’Conner, Founder and CEO of the consultancy Atlas and a former CEO at Dennis Publishing, a focus on audience means the “customer must sit in the middle of your business model.”
Discussing recurring revenues, O’Conner pointed to the rise of the subscription economy and its implications for media companies. He observed that “subscription income is more consistent than other forms of monetization.”
Subsequently, media companies should focus on building long-term relationships with subscribers. “We need to be really good at relationships and understanding what we mean to our customers,” he advised.
3. Acquisitions can be integral for growth
There are multiple ways to grow your audiences and revenues. However, launching new products and verticals can be fraught with risk—and costs. One idea which emerged in multiple sessions was to reduce these potential pitfalls through partnerships and acquisitions.
This can take multiple forms. You can, for example, acquire an audience for a day, or even an article.
Juan Señor, noted the return of micropayments in the form of day passes. “We gave up on them [micropayments]. Now they’re coming back,” he says, outlining how this model can be a means to establish a relationship with audiences.
Pet Collective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAH-ixdFWFs
In turn, this has led to the creation of new FAST (Free Ad-Supported TV) offerings and expanded TMB’s footprint on different social media channels. And with much of this content also user-generated, it’s also created further revenue opportunities in the form of licensing, as well as ads on their new digital TV channels.
Acquisition goes beyond acquiring other companies and its online properties. It lies at the heart of growing this part of the business too. To help TMB continue to build their clips library, they have teams around the world (in LA, India and Romania) looking at—and then acquiring—social content.
Kintzer revealed that the company has paid out over $30 million over the last decade to clip owners. In turn, clips are being licensed by TMB for use in commercials for Cheerios, Huggies, Coca Cola, and others. Deepening this archive also creates more possibilities for streaming, video production and social video, too.
Looking Ahead: interrelated trends to watch
AI will likely continue to dominate the conversation for the next 12 months and beyond. Earlier this year, IAC chairman Barry Diller said that media publishers should sue AI companies to protect their assets.
At FIPP, Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana, the new chief executive of Impress UK, an independent press regulator, also emphasized the accuracy of generative AI (and the opportunity this may present for publishers). Alongside this, she also spoke to the challenges of determining copyright and “fair use” that we can expect to see play out in the near future. “We may see a wellspring of copyright regulators emerge in response to this,” she predicted.
Meanwhile, Madeleine White, co-editor-in-chief at B2b site The Audiencers and Head of International at the membership and subscription platform Poool, stressed the continued importance of registration strategies. This can help you get to know your audience and also increases the likelihood of converting visitors into subscribers. Using AI, in the form of a dynamic paywall, with the fashion magazine ELLE, White revealed that free registered members are up to 40x more likely to subscribe.
Lastly, Reid Deramus, Growth PM at Substack, noted how the leveling of the tech-stack had made it easier for small companies to do everything from collect payments (e.g. through Stripe), create good-looking content (with a good CMS) as well as reach audiences through channels like newsletters.
“It’s never been easier to pick up your iPhone and start your own media business,” he said. Because of this, it’s not just AI that’s a potential threat to publishers. You need to work hard to acquire, keep and develop talented staff.
“A lot of people who come to Substack felt like they couldn’t be themselves,” he said. To avoid hemorrhaging good people he encouraged companies “to find ways to motivate” some of their top performers. “Give them creative freedom,” he said, “keep them motivated financially… and let them have a seat at the table.”
The big picture
As we delve into the trends shaping the media landscape of Summer 2023, it becomes clearer than ever that media executives need solid strategies in three key areas: AI, audience, and acquisitions.
Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing workflows. However, it is also offering a number of IP challenges that we must address. Simultaneously, enhancing your knowledge—and relationship—with audiences is integral for growing subscriptions and reader revenues, including maximizing the relationships you already have. And the art of acquisition can encompass everything from other companies to UGC, as well as creative talent and new audiences.
Having strategies for these areas in place can help media organizations unlock areas of innovation and growth during a period that promises to be as transformative, and tumultuous, as any in recent memory.
In today’s fast-paced digital world, media companies face intense competition across many different platforms. Echobox, a provider of social media management tools, offers new research, “Publishing Trends 2023,” highlighting media businesses’ priorities, challenges, and opportunities. The top three priorities for content companies include finding new audiences (53%), automation and AI (50%), and video content (47%). Staying ahead of the Facebook algorithm (53%), declining traffic (47%), growing digital subscriptions and diversifying revenue streams (both 34%) were commonly cited challenges.
Echobox surveyed a targeted sample of 32 leading media companies across the world. This global perspective includes respondents from 20 countries in Europe (67%), the Americas (20%), and Asia (13%).
Platform usage
Instagram emerges as a vital channel for publishers in 2023. In fact, the study shows that 66% of respondents believe Instagram will play a more significant role in their business this year. Publishers recognize the value of leveraging Instagram’s visual nature for content promotion and audience interaction.
TikTok is also gaining prominence, with 59% of publishers turning to this platform for video content distribution and audience engagement.
Media brands recognize the importance of capitalizing on the visual nature of TikTok and YouTube. By investing in video production and distribution, the report suggests that media companies can enhance their content offerings and attract a wider audience.
However, challenges persist on platforms like Facebook, primarily due to its lack of algorithmic transparency. Approximately one-third of media companies view Facebook as vital, and they want to maintain visibility and reach on this platform. Unfortunately, the opaque evolving nature of the platform requires publishers to constantly adapt their strategies, remain vigilant of algorithm changes, and seek alternative avenues to engage their target audience.
Embracing newsletters
Newsletters remain an area of growth for many media businesses. The report highlights that 56% of respondents plan to expand their newsletter offerings or start producing newsletters in the coming year. Publishers understand the value of direct communication and engaging subscribers in off-platform vehicles. By crafting compelling and personalized content in newsletters, media businesses can establish stronger connections with their audience and help drive traffic to their websites.
AI attraction
The report indicates that 63% of media companies acknowledge the growing importance of AI for their businesses. AI-powered tools and technologies offer immense potential to streamline operations, optimize content distribution, and enhance audience targeting.
Publishers can leverage AI to automate repetitive tasks, personalize content recommendations, and gain valuable insights into audience preferences. Media companies using AI can unlock new efficiencies, improve engagement, and achieve better business outcomes.
Ending third-party cookies
When thinking of the impending demise of third-party cookies in 2024, less than half of the respondents foresee a significant impact on their business. Specifically, 31% do not anticipate any effect and 13% state that they don’t rely on third-party cookies. Of the 50% of publishers anticipating significant impacts, half report they are prepared while the other half are not.
The Echobox report does highlight that, though the growth of newsletters has slowed, the first party data insights they provide does provide a means to offset the loss of third-party cookies.
Future focus
The results of Echobox’s 2023 publisher survey does show a certain amount of continuity from last year, as traffic remains a concern along with Facebook, while newsletters continue to demonstrate value. This year did see significant economic impacts as well as uncertainty around the role Twitter will play for media companies and advertisers. The report finds that publishers are investing resources in a wider array of social platforms in an effort to diversify their own audience demographics and to position themselves for increased adaptability to weather the evolving social landscape and consumer consumption trends.
When it comes to video storytelling, tools are a critical factor in determining the quality of your product. Reliance on outdated video-production tools can affect your ability to compete with other brands battling for audience attention and loyalty.
Video is becoming an incredibly valuable tool for disseminating information quickly to audiences. In fact, 43.4% of internet users watch online videos as a source of learning each week. For media organizations seeking to build loyalty and report on breaking news, it’s important to have a suite of tools that makes it easy to create brand-consistent videos with just a few clicks.
Given trend shifts in the video-production industry, read on to evaluate if your tool suite could use an upgrade.
What goes into video production?
The world of modern video production is more important than ever, given that companies need to put tools in the hands of as many reporting teams and video editors as possible. While some videos may require high production costs and complex systems, it is beneficial to also have tools that make it easy to respond to timely local news and major events. For content that needs to be published quickly, companies need to have resources available that allow reporters to share content at any time, from anywhere with the click of a button.
Today, publishers producing the best videos customize their themes, ensure brand recognition, publish directly from advanced interfaces and much more. The videos that stand out in today’s crowded marketplace live on multiple platforms and speak directly to viewers while getting online quickly.
Video production challenges
There’s no doubt that today’s video storytelling is better than ever. That quality comes at a cost, though. Modern video storytellers face a variety of challenges with video production, including the following:
1. Time
In today’s fast-paced news environment, publishers need to be able to post top-quality videos in less time than ever before. This time crunch is a real problem for many organizations and can easily separate the winning digital publications from those who fall behind.
To combat time-related issues, teams benefit from platforms that allow them to automate many of the repetitive tasks of video production. Tools like templating and brand recognition packages help publishers push to-the-minute video content without missing crucial deadlines or falling behind the news cycle.
2. Incorrect formatting
Many storytelling teams have tried to get around time-crunch problems by creating one-size-fits-all content. Unfortunately, this kind of content often feels unoriginal and duplicative. Additionally, it may not be properly sized or formatted for the intended platform. As consumers increasingly gather information from alternative sources such as social media, email and websites, it’s important to have content that can be adjusted and reformatted for each location.
To combat this issue, teams have two choices: invest far more time and energy in each video or use a platform that makes it easy to create diverse material that remains on-brand. The right digital publishing tools provide comprehensive customization options, including the ability to swap out themes while applying branding across videos and publishing them in the correct sizing.
3. Software limitations
Relying on limited, low-capacity software to produce critical video content can be a big pitfall for publishers that want to stand out. Software limitations make it virtually impossible to remain competitive in the video-storytelling environment and may even create unnecessary bottlenecks during breaking news events.
To combat software limitations, today’s digital publishers must find video-production software that provides powerful tools, including theme customization, personalization, publishing flexibility and more.
4. Team size
Historically, teams have needed to grow larger to support video storytelling efforts. That’s because video storytelling tools are often complex, and not everyone was equipped to use them. As a result, teams needed to create entire publishing and production departments full of people who knew how to use advanced tools.
Today, however, large teams can actually make it harder to be agile and adaptable. Therefore, the most competitive publishing teams out there are paring down, opting for more intuitive software (that doesn’t require specialized skills to use) rather than larger teams. This allows your teams to be effective in a variety of key focus areas, while still producing engaging content.
Critical Focus
Video production software can help increase competitiveness across the market. With this in mind, let’s look at a couple of recent advancements in video-production software that will help you optimize your strategy.
Automating branded content
To be recognizable, branding should incorporate the same logos and color schemes across all videos. This is necessary to ensure brand recognizability, while producing quality material quickly and easily. Modern video-production software can help you reuse branded assets and themes where they are needed. The ability to save brand themes and layouts across multiple platforms allows media teams to rapidly implement them across the board. This gives teams more time to focus on making the content stand out while maintaining brand consistency.
Anywhere, anytime video production
As teams have pared down and become leaner and more agile, video-production software has morphed to support the needs of small teams. In other words, your teams must be able to easily create videos from anywhere, at any time, with any device. This makes it easy for reporters in the field to cover breaking news across your social channels and your website.
Ease, automation, and always on-brand content
Today’s media teams must have the ability to easily create quality video-storytelling materials without sacrificing speed, accuracy or branding. Today, this is critical for any company that wants to remain competitive, creative and innovative in today’s fast-paced video-publication environment.
Great video production serves several purposes: it spreads breaking news, educates audiences and promotes viewership. Clearly, media companies make a significant contribution in building their brand and that brand trust should be maximized across platforms. Streamlining that process allows teams to focus on creating the kind of content that promotes brand recognition and audience retention.
The Associated Press (AP) has launched an innovative artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search experience, which it says will enhance the efficiency and accuracy of content discovery for AP Newsroom users.
The global news agency believes that the new search functionality represents a significant shift in the discoverability of photos and videos that align with users’ search criteria. Unlike metadata-based searches, the AI-powered tool is able to understand descriptive language and generates search results based on the user’s description. It can also identify specific moments within an entire video clip, regardless of its length.
This opens up new possibilities for users, allowing them to easily pinpoint precise moments of interest in videos, even if they haven’t been tagged or captioned.
Dramatically improved results
Traditional searches for visual content depend entirely on descriptive information, which means many visual assets are difficult to find.
“AP’s visual archives stretch back to the beginnings of photography, comprising tens of millions of photos and videos” explains Paul Caluori, the AP vice president of global products. “Across that history and volume, the amount and kind of descriptive information varies widely, and sometimes information is not as complete as we’d like it to be.”
However, the AP’s new AI-enabled search is able to recognize elements within photos and videos and “understand” more specific search terms and concepts to find those elements.
“This yields some dramatically improved search results and we are very excited to make this available to our customers,” says Caluori. “We believe it will speed their searching time, get them more useful results and ultimately help them be more successful with their projects.”
The search engine driving the new technology is NOMAD™, developed by MerlinOne, a software company specializing in AI applications for visual objects. NOMAD™ is the result of four years of in-house advanced AI effort, and the developers say it is the first such tool that understands natural language and concepts.
AI pioneer
This is far from the first time AP has used AI. It was one of the pioneering news organizations to leverage this technology back in 2014 and issued a guide to using AI in the newsroom in 2017. At the AP, the Business News desk took the lead in the use of AI to automate articles covering corporate earnings and sports. This undertaking not only enabled the brand to to experiment with new projects, it positioned AP as a thought leader in the AI space, inspiring other news organizations to embrace the technology.
So, while generative AI has captured much of the limelight since ChatGPT’s 2022 introduction, NOMAD™ is a purely visual AI search technology that builds upon the APs long standing use of AI.
Addressing common concerns
With AI moving so quickly, it is easy to anticipate that this technology will become the new normal for other agencies in the future. But what of the negative impact of AI-powered search engines, in terms of job losses? As media mogul Barry Diller recently told Time magazine, artificial intelligence (AI) could be as “destructive” to news publishers as free online news was in the early aughts.
However, unlike the threat of Generative AI, Caluori states that when it comes to their new search engine, “nobody is losing a job over this.”
“Our journalists search our archives every day and this tool will make it easier for them; it improves the usefulness of our archives to people both inside and outside the AP.”
Another concern around the use of AI is algorithmic bias. Consumer Reports has just released a series of videos, called BAD INPUT, in partnership with the Kapor Foundation which explore the biases present in algorithms and data sets, and the harm they can cause, particularly within communities of color.
David Tenenbaum, CEO of MerlinOne, has led their machine learning efforts for the last seven years. He explains that issues of bias center around the content sets used to train the model. If they are small and exclude crucial data (in this case faces representing all genders and races in equal proportions) bias is certain. On the other hand, if you use a huge training set, reflective of our world, the probability of bias is greatly diminished.
“Recognizing the danger that bias can creep into any system that uses a small, unbalanced training set, NOMAD was trained on over a billion images in a collection that is highly reflective of the world we all live in,” says Tenebaum. “No AI system will ever be perfect, but with millions of searches done, we have not had a single complaint about biased results.”
New normal
AP initially launched the service in a beta mode on its self-serve site, for customers who have access to its ecommerce service for photos and video. The AI search facility is now being rolled out to all customers over the next couple of weeks.
With an ever-expanding archive that adds new content every minute from around the globe, AP’s visual collection consists of over 60 million photos, catering to the needs of professional image buyers and commercial customers alike. The enhanced search tool is designed to make much more of this content discoverable. With NOMAD™ for Video, editors can find a short clip in just a few seconds, freeing up time to focus on high-impact journalism.
Additionally, new ecommerce capabilities improve the AP Newsroom experience for non-subscription customers. With streamlined self-serve licensing and pricing models, users can easily license images and video, including for ad hoc usage.
Caluori described the AI-powered search as a “real sea change” in content exploration and discovery within the AP’s vast archives.
“Want to see a fragment of Winston Churchill in a garden feeding birds? You can find something that specific using natural language, rather than typical one or two keyword searches that yield many unuseful results. The ability for customers to find very specific moments within a video or just the right photo is a powerful key to our archives.”
1) Developers and deployers of GAI must respect creators’ rights to their content. Developers and deployers of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) systems—as well as legislators, regulators and other parties involved in drafting laws and policies regulating GAI—must respect the value of creators’ proprietary content.
2) Publishers are entitled to negotiate for and receive fair compensation for use of their IP. Use of original content by GAI systems for training, surfacing or synthesizing is not authorized by most publishers’ terms and conditions, or contemplated by existing agreements (for example, for search). GAI system developers and deployers should not be crawling, ingesting or using publishers’ proprietary content for these three stages without express authorization.
3) Copyright laws protect content creators from the unlicensed use of their content. Like all other uses of copyrighted works, use of copyrighted works in AI systems are subject to analysis under copyright and fair use law. Most of the use of publishers’ original content by AI systems for both training and output purposes would likely be found to go far beyond the scope of fair use as set forth in the Copyright Act and established case law. Exceptions to copyright protections for text and data mining (TDM) should be narrowly tailored to not damage content publishers or become pathways for uses that would otherwise require permission.
TRANSPARENCY
4) GAI systems should be transparent to publishers and users. Strong regulations and policies imposing proportionate transparency requirements are needed to the extent necessary for publishers to enforce their IP rights where publishers’ copyright-protected content is included in training datasets. Generative outputs that use publisher content should include clear and prominent attributions in a way that identifies to users the original sources of the output (not third-party news aggregators) and encourages users to navigate to those sources. Users should also be provided with comprehensible information about how such systems operate to make judgments about system quality and trustworthiness.
ACCOUNTABILITY
5) Deployers of GAI systems should be held accountable for system outputs. GAI systems pose risks for competition and public trust in publishers’ content. This can be compounded by GAI systems generating content that improperly attributes false information to publishers. Deployers of GAI systems should be legally responsible for the output of their systems.
FAIRNESS
6) GAI systems should not create, or risk creating, unfair market or competition outcomes. Regulators should be attuned to ensuring GAI systems are designed, trained, deployed, and used in a way that is compliant with competition laws and principles.
SAFETY
7) GAI systems should be safe and address privacy risks. Collection and use of personal data in GAI system design, training and use should be minimal, disclosed to users in an easily understandable manner and in line with Fair Information Privacy Principles (FIPPS). Systems should not reinforce biases or facilitate discrimination.
News consumers want deeper understanding of their communities and more variety of topics covered. However, they also prefer short-format stories that appear on platforms they already use. Opinions of adults in the United States and the United Kingdom align when it comes to lingering distrust of news and fatigue with politics combined with preferences for quick and convenient news, according to two new studies.
U.S. adults want better representation, practical news
A qualitative study of 5,000 U.S. residents by the American Journalism Project offers unique perspective due to improved inclusion of harder-to-reach demographics such as lower-income, minority and immigrant communities. The study used one hundred community ambassadors to reach people across the country who are not typically among the high-information news consumers often represented in surveys. Focusing on what residents want from local news, the ambassadors gathered input via focus groups, phone calls, and text messages.
Overall, U.S. adults surveyed expressed the following needs:
News that is local and can be acted upon
Reporting that understands their communities and more fully reflects them
Content that is convenient to find and use
Better representation of young people, people of color, LGBTQ+, and immigrant communities within news organizations
More fact-based coverage, less opinion.
Respondents from lower-income communities, communities of color, and/or immigrant communities said they want local news reporters to engage more deeply with them, preferably including journalists who are from their communities. They want news organizations to report on a wide range of topics in their neighborhoods, not just crime. Where there are safety issues, they want practical guidance to protect their families and advocate for change. They want local news to be of and with their communities, to report news that accurately reflects the totality of their lives and is useful to people in their communities.
Spanish-speaking respondents made the point that language translations alone do not compensate for an absence of insider perspective. English-language learners also want news media to understand that whatever language is being used to report news, immigrants care about a variety of news topics, not just immigration-related stories.
While some U.S. respondents expressed distrust for “the media” at large, especially when it comes to national news coverage of political stories, they also voiced a desire to have a central place to rely on for facts and information. Some said they trust community organizations that provide direct services more than news outlets because those entities seemed to care more about their needs. This aligns with the stated desire for news that provides concrete actionable resources.
U.K. adults want trustworthy, convenient news
Some parallels surface in the study of 2,000 U.K. adults by Tickaroo, a live blogging and video platform. The study found the following trends among U.K. news consumers:
Diminishing trust in news
Declining interest in political news
Preference for consuming news on mobile devices
Preference for shorter-form content
U.K. adults expressed concern about misinformation, “fake news,” and spin. 31% said they do not trust the news very much, 55% say they retain some skepticism about the news, and 8% said they hardly trust the news at all. According to Tickaroo’s quantitative research, U.K. users’ reasons for not trusting news ranged from the perception that journalists create spin (43%) to concerns about misreporting (42%) and claims of “fake news” (34%).
Where the U.K. and U.S. studies align
Both recent studies found elevated levels of distrust in news as well as a preference for short-form content. U.S. and U.K. residents expressed fatigue with negative news and politics, and both groups are concerned with getting factual news with less bias.
Aligning with those in the U.K., U.S. residents studied admitted that they often do not seek out news, preferring news to fit into their daily routines and be easily available on platforms they already use. These platforms include popular social media sites, email, and even messaging platforms and text messaging groups.
“Trust Kits” offer guidance for newsrooms
To combat distrust, news audiences need to know how facts are sourced, how newsrooms decide which stories to cover, and which pieces are meant to be read as opinion. Transparency is the lynchpin of these concerns.
Assistance to improve trust in news can be found in Trust Kits launched by Reynolds Journalism Institute and the American Press Institute. Tips focus on the following solution areas:
Increasing engagement by listening to and reaching new audiences
Making ethical guidelines public and correcting mistakes
Explaining how coverage decisions are made and sourced
Clearly distinguishing between fact and opinion content
Strengthening newsroom culture
It is a balancing act to foster a deeper understanding of communities and provide more varied coverage while also summarizing content into bite-sized packages and appealing formats. However, it is a challenge that must be addressed to reach and maintain news audiences.
Advertisers that solely opt to access publisher inventory through the open marketplace (OMP) face significant addressability problems. While the OMP completely changed the way media owners and advertisers collaborated, becoming the “path to least resistance” for both buyers and sellers, it is now creating more resistance. But as with so many things in life, what’s old is new again and direct-sold strategies are delivering benefits to publishers once again.
Open programmatic no longer serves its purpose
Even with Chrome’s third-party cookies still in play, only 30% of audiences on the open web are targetable. This is because 40% of Chrome’s users make their data unavailable to advertisers and the Firefox and Safari browsers already operate without third-party cookies.
Open web addressability is a big problem: Why would advertisers want to use the majority of their ad spend to reach 30% of audiences? There is also no guarantee of premium inventory and placements as well as a lack of control and transparency in the OMP as a result of ad fraud and third-party targeting that doesn’t deliver on the audience advertisers are trying to reach.
In light of this, publishers are re-evaluating their strategies. For example, one parent and lifestyle publisher made the proactive decision to reduce their reliance on the OMP, not just because it isn’t a reliable source of revenue, but because they can’t control their narrative with buyers in that environment. Working with advertisers directly means they get to highlight non-endemic audiences at a scale they can achieve.
Publishers need to make revenue and ensure they are giving their audience the best possible experience, while advertisers only want to reach the most relevant people within this audience. The lack of addressability in the OMP leads to failure on both fronts.
The building blocks of going direct
Between October and November 2022, the IAB surveyed 223 buy-side ad investment decision-makers and found that 53% planned to increase their focus on ad placements with publishers using first-party data. According to a report by Adweek, brands like Hershey’s, which spend between $350M- 450M annually on advertising, realise they are spending a lot of money and not showing up in premium environments. Hershey’s now has a target of buying 80% of addressable media via private marketplaces (PMPs) and only 20% on the OMP.
Publishers’ first-party datasets—built on authenticated, contextual, declared, and behavioural data—can be leveraged by advertisers directly to activate unreachable audiences. But for this shift to work, publishers must continue encouraging buyers to see the benefits of working directly with them and perhaps even educate an entire population of buyers that have worked primarily with OMP.
To do this, publishers need to satisfy advertiser demand by providing quality audiences from interest, intent, and in-market audiences, provide scale and ensure reach across all relevant platforms and browsers, tell rich and compelling stories about their audiences via deep insights, showcase how audiences are built and be transparent about audience creation, and demonstrate how their first party audiences can help deliver and improve performance mid-flight and achieve advertiser objectives.
Reaping the benefits
Publishers already working this way benefit from using their first-party data to drive direct deals, and buyers are seeing an improved performance. Trusted Media Brands (TMB), whose titles include FailArmy, Family Handyman, Reader’s Digest, and Taste of Home, have been working on their data strategy to ensure they can understand audiences across all browsers, especially in cookie-blocked environments such as Safari.
TMB now delivers direct-sold campaigns 94% of the time using first-party data. The work has resulted in a 140% increase in revenue from deals using first-party data, a 31% increase in RFP win rate when data is on an IO and a 2X increase in deal size when data is present on an IO vs no data.
Similarly, Gumtree is seeing results from using first-party data in direct deals, with a 36% increase in click-through rates in Q1 2023, and a 14% increase in average cost per thousand impressions.
The driving force behind addressability
The best way for publishers and advertisers to maximize their revenue and budgets, respectively, is to focus on addressability. First-party data and direct-sold will be the driving force behind that.
Direct deals deliver quality first-party data and scalable first-party audiences that meet advertisers’ needs, increase transparency, and control, and enable access to premium inventory and ad placements. Working direct also results in insights and reporting into audiences on how they inform an advertiser’s targeting strategy. Advertisers know where their ad spend is going and which audiences they are reaching with more accuracy.
When Stephen King calls your production the best true crime podcast he’s ever heard, you know you’ve done something right. It was quite the win for a tiny New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) podcast team, which goes up against big-name production companies in an increasingly crowded and volatile podcast market.
But while NHPR basks in the glow of this win, big names like NPR and Spotify—a traditional radio stalwart and a digital-native streaming company—find themselves stumbling after making big bets on podcasts. So, why are podcasts such a boon for some while they seem to be weighing other companies down? As is so often the case in the media industry, you have to look at the strategy.
Trouble in podcast paradise
According to data from Edison’s The Infinite Dial Report, podcasts have more listeners than ever—and those listeners are engaged and affluent. Well over half (64%) of people over the age of 12 in the U.S. have listened to a podcast; 42% have listened in the last month; 31% have listened in the last week. That audience skews young, with 40% of people between the ages of 12-34 tuning in weekly. With an estimated 89 million people listening to podcasts on a weekly basis, the audience is also diverse — 45% of Black Americans and 34% of Hispanic Americans listen monthly. It was only a matter of time before the money started to flow.
In 2019, Spotify paid a reported $340 million for Gimlet and Anchor. In 2020, The New York Times paid $25 million for Serial Productions. But in January 2023, Spotify announced it would lay off 6% of its workforce and that Chief Content Officer Dawn Ostroff was leaving. Ostroff was the driving force behind over $1 billion in podcast spending to get exclusive deals with big-name podcasters. As Morning Brew Reports, “Although the layoffs don’t specifically target Spotify’s podcasting staff, the departure of Ostroff is yet another sign that the company is slowing down its full-steam-ahead approach to the space.”
In March of 2023, NPR made a similar announcement, declaring that it would cancel four podcasts as it looks to cut costs. The story is the same across the board; diminishing ad revenue gets the blame. But it’s hard not to acknowledge the elephant in the room — an over-reliance on the podcast craze to boost the bottom line.
Betting big on podcast revenue
Part of the appeal of podcasts has always been their guerilla nature. From Marc Maron’s garage to the original “My Favorite Murder” pod-loft, there was a certain informality to it all. Then “Serial” came along, bringing a more refined sound to podcast players and changing the way listeners — and investors — perceive podcasts. Suddenly, a medium best known for off-the-cuff conversations and sometimes-questionable audio quality was a viable channel for journalism.
Still, it wasn’t until the Covid-19 pandemic pushed people even more online that the podcast acquisition market truly heated up. “The podcast megadeals of the pandemic may have been premature—podcasting made up just 7% of total listening on Spotify in Q1 2022, the company said, despite the massive investment in tentpole shows,” according to Morning Brew “And the exclusive show model that makes popular shows available only to subscribers of a given streamer hasn’t proven wildly successful. The Gimlet and Parcast unions announced that making certain shows Spotify exclusives reduced their listenership by as much as 75% in some instances.”
Not only was a general decline in ad revenues an issue, but so was a massive decline in listenership. In short, Spotify bet that making popular podcasts available exclusively on its platform would drive subscriptions. That bet did not pay off. This dynamic has played out across multiple providers where the investment outweighed revenue.
Podcast strategies that work
While some networks are still figuring out where and how podcasts best fit into their content strategy, others are seeing big success. For instance, Vox Media forecasts that its podcast network will reach more than 500 million in 2023. According to Hollywood Reporter, “The audience figures, which Vox Media is releasing for the first time, represent a measured approach to growth for the media brand’s podcasting business, which began in 2011 with the launch of Vox’s first podcast but didn’t become formalized until 2017 with the debut of the standalone Vox Media Podcast Network.” In the ensuing five years, the network has acquired Preet Bharara’s Cafe Studios as well as Phoebe Judge and Lauren Spohrer’s Criminal Productions. It’s also brought in Esther Perel, and other new talent.
So what’s the difference between Vox and Spotify, both of which are investing in popular podcasts? The most obvious is that Vox is not limiting access to the content. But there is more to the story. “They’re getting into the podcast business as an extension of their journalism,” says Rebecca Lavoie, Director of On-Demand Audio at NHPR and a podcaster in her own right, as host of Crime Writers On… and Netflix’s You Can’t Make This Up. And this happens to be the same way the NHPR team approaches its podcasts — just an extension of its journalism, or another way to tell stories.
Bear Brook may be Stephen King’s favorite NHPR podcast, but it is not the only podcasting juggernaut put out by the team. “Civics 101” launched in 2016, and is — almost inexplicably — still growing. “Our audience grew by…almost 30% just this year,” says Lavoie. Meanwhile, when we spoke, Bear Brook’s second season had just surpassed 2 million downloads for eight episodes. Importantly, however, the team behind Bear Brook is small and nimble — so small that host Jason Moon also writes and records the music. NHPR relies largely on swapping ad spots with related podcasts to help spread the word, and has a diverse number of revenue streams for its podcasts.
“So, my show outside of NHPR, we’ve got ads, and we’ve got Patreon. That’s it. You know, if you’re a bigger show, you could also do live shows, you could do merch, there’s a limited number of things you can do, but they’re all commercial,” says Lavoie. While NHPR has a commercial advertising partnership with Stitcher, it can also ask for member support, can apply for grants because they are nonprofit, and make appeals to major donors to support special projects. “We’re not relying on venture capital seed money, we are relying on nonprofit stewardship,” she adds.
A public radio podcasting renaissance
Up until six months or a year ago, Lavoie says she was chagrined by much of what she heard from the NPR-verse; “Because public radio has never really behaved like it’s part of the podcast industry, right? We have some of the most talented people, we have all of the infrastructure, we have the best microphones, we have these great narrative storytellers. But there’s all this hesitancy to just get into it.” But that’s changing. From stalwarts like WBEZ and little-known stations like KCUR out of Kansas, public radio is finally “getting” podcasts.
Importantly, NHPR and other member stations don’t have to make a profit, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to be learned from this scrappy team. Podcasts have the ability to experiment with new revenue streams. Grants may not be possible for traditional for-profit media companies, but finding individual supporters interested in funding the work you do is — especially for highly focused, narrative podcasts. From live shows to merch, podcast listeners support their favorite shows in a variety of ways that journalists just are not used to. So, it’s time to get creative.
/ An inside look at the business of digital content
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