Industry News
SELECTED ITEMS OF INTEREST TO THE MEDIA COMMUNITY
Clicking Takes a Licking
Referrals from Facebook and X to top global news sites have fallen dramatically during the past year, according to data from Similarweb. And though this decline was widely believed to be inevitable, many news organizations did little or nothing to prepare. Among the many ramifications of the referral falloff: Website business models reliant on social media clicks are no longer viable. In addition, a reliance on social media traffic kept many news publishers from developing their own consumer products.
Read more of the Axios story here.
#media #strategy #consulting
A Surprising Amount of Philanthropic Funding Goes to For-Profit Newsrooms
A new study examining the impact of philanthropic funding of journalism in the U.S. revealed increased funding of for-profit newsrooms, with 138 for-profit newsrooms receiving donations during the past five years. Some of those donations went to newsrooms owned by large, well-funded corporations. Dick Tofel, in his Second Rough Draft newsletter, writes about the study, which was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, in conjunction with Media Impact Finders and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Other findings included:
- 19% of the for-profit newsrooms receiving grants have budgets over $50 million, and 8% have more than 100 newsroom employees.
- Almost two-thirds of the newsrooms receiving grants are growing or holding steady in staff numbers, and slightly more than half have avoided any layoffs.
- Google and Facebook/Meta gave a combined $14.5 million in large gifts to newsrooms over the past five years.(Facebook/Meta terminated journalism funding in 2022.)
The study also raises concerns about transparency. It found that almost three-quarters of for-profit newsrooms receiving philanthropic funding don't disclose the source of that funding -- and 19 for-profit newsrooms admitted that they have changed their editorial priorities in response to funding.
Read more of Dick Tofel's "Second Rough Draft" story about the study here.
#media #strategy #consulting
Brand Ranking by “Authenticity”
Brand authenticity matters to young consumers, a survey of 75,000 "GenZ" consumers, ages 13-22, has found. More than 80% of the respondents said it's important that brands are authentic and "true to themselves." The survey, conducted by market research firm YPulse, defined "authenticity" as "being real, flaws and all, and earning loyalty by sharing what truly matters to the company with honesty and consistency." The top three most authentic brands for American GenZ consumers are Nike, Coca-Cola, and YouTube.
Also cited favorably by the survey participants:
- ApplePay's innovation and convenience.
- Ben & Jerry's combination of activism and fun.
- Duolingo's playfully unpredictable personality.
Read more of the YPULSE story here.
#media #strategy #consulting
