Industry News
SELECTED ITEMS OF INTEREST TO THE MEDIA COMMUNITY
Subscriptions Continue to Pay Off for Publishers
A review and analysis of publishers' approaches to subscriptions in 2023 found that subscriptions became a more significant part of audience offerings and business models. Fears of reaching a "peak subscription" wall proved unfounded, as consumers continued to purchase more subscriptions. But more regulatory oversight of cancellation policies and the rise of AI continued to pose potential obstacles to growth. Other findings described in Jack Marshall's "Toolkits" newsletter include:
- In a tough advertising market, subscription revenue proved its ongoing value.
- Many publishers shifted their emphasis from subscriber growth to revenue growth.
- Subscription offerings became increasingly fragmented.
Read more in Jack Marshall's "Toolkits" newsletter here.
#media #strategy #consulting
“Influencers” Have a Growing Appetite for Food-focused Content
Increasing numbers of content creators are using food to diversify and attract more interest from brands. TikTok and Instagram segments, often produced at home, offer a much more cost-effective way than traditional advertising for brands to have their products, including snacks and appliances, featured in front of a large audience. And interest in cooking and other food content, which first jumped during COVID lockdown, has continued to grow, with one marketing analyst finding a 30% increase in client interest in those topics just in the past year.
Read more of the Digiday story here.
#media #strategy #consulting
Unconventional Wisdom: Digital Newsrooms Should Fail More Often
In his "Second Rough Draft" journalism newsletter, Dick Tofel suggests that the very low failure rate of digital news nonprofits isn't a sign of industry resilience. To the contrary, Tofel believes it represents "funder timidity, founder stubbornness and industry stagnation." While he acknowledges the hardship of employee job loss and that newsroom survival shouldn't be based completely on traditional business profitability models, Tofel says a higher failure rate may be necessary if the industry is to survive. Lessons about audience and budgeting learned from a larger percentage of failures -- a rate that comes closer to that of for-profit venture capital funded enterprises -- could be applied to creating more sustainable nonprofit news operations in the future.
Read more of Dick Tofel's "Second Rough Draft" piece here.
#media #strategy #consulting
