The Future of Media, Explained - from Press Gazette

In the latest episode, Press Gazette editor in chief Dominic Ponsford met GB News presenting duo Gloria De Piero and Christopher Hope at their new Westminster studio.They spoke about their new weekly show, PMQs Live, the future of political reporting in an election year and why they think GB News is striking a chord with viewers by offering them more of what they want.(As part of this podcast was recorded on location, apologies but the quality can get a little patchy) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guardian US senior vice president for advertising Luis Romero talks to Press Gazette about what it is like to sell in the toughest ad market since 2008.He also shares some tactics and strategies the Guardian is deploying to persuade more brands to spend money on reaching its 40m US readers per month.His pitch is a simply one - stop supporting the dark corners of the internet on tech platforms and instead help fund a news business which is shining light on the world's most important issues. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dow Jones CEO and Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour spoke to Press Gazette about how the financial news division of News Corp managed to just achieve its most profitable quarter since 2007.In this edited version of his interview at the Press Gazette Media Strategy Network event in New York, he also spoke about what publishers need to focus on as global uncertainty looks set to continue in 2024. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last year UK regional news giant Newsquest made £40m in pre-tax profits on turnover of £190m.This year it is tracking to have ad revenue broadly flat over two years.CEO Henry Faure Walker spoke to Dominic Ponsford about how the publisher of 200+ titles is bucking the trend on both audience and advertising revenue decline. He also shed light on some fascinating experiments using generative AI in the newsroom. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elle UK editor Kenya Hunt talks to Press Gazette about why she hopes readers will pay £150 a year to become fashion industry insiders as members of Elle Collective.She also talks about the future of magazines, diversity and why magazine editors have a duty to present images of female beauty responsibly. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Daily Mail has an average reader age of 56 but has managed to become an unlikely hit on youth social media platform Tiktok. The newsbrand is currently celebrating becoming the biggest publisher of news on Tiktok, ahead of broadcasters Sky News, ABC News and NBC News. Mail Online head of social video Phil Harvey, who joined the publisher in March, told Press Gazette how and why their Tiktok performance has transformed this year and why it is worth the investment. He also revealed which British politician and their dog has become an unlikely Tiktok star for the Daily Mail. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rupert Murdoch has announced his plans to step down as executive chairman of News Corp after nearly 70 years in charge in November.Press Gazette editor in chief Dominic Ponsford discusses The Murdoch Factor with Peter Jukes (author of Fall of the House of Murdoch and co-founder of Byline Times). What is the key quality which has enabled Murdoch's success and what does the future of media look like without him? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

CEO of Future plc Jon Steinberg explains why he believes his company still has the right ingredients for success (whatever investors may currently seem to think).He also talks about how he has tackled taking over from a highly successful predecessor, what he thinks about AI in publishing and how the company is just starting to generate revenue from digital subscriptions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bron Maher speaks to Semafor CEO Justin B Smith who explains the news startup's launch strategy.Semafor launched in October last year promising to be the news outlet for the "200 million people who are college educated [and] read in English”.Nine months on, chief executive Justin B Smith explains to Press Gazette that, while it still wants that audience, in the nearer term Semafor is going to look more like a luxury brand.Smith also tells the Future of Media Explained podcast why he won't be spending Semafor's millions in the bank any time soon - and how the brand's signature yellow colour harkens to the grandeur of Chinese emperors.A month after Semafor launched, Press Gazette mapped their global audience. See the map here: https://pressgazette.co.uk/north-america/semafor-global-coverage-mapped/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Like most news publishers, The Guardian is still in an experimentation phase with generative AI as it tests the technology’s limits and learns whether it can fit into an editorial workflow.Crucially, however, it has not deployed any gen AI tools yet and is not planning to do so in the immediate future.Head of editorial innovation Chris Moran joined the Future of Media Explained podcast to explain why – and discuss why, despite the threats to the news business from generative AI being introduced into search results and the use of publishers’ content without reward, he is optimistic about what could happen next. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our latest edition investigates practical applications of generative AI in the newsroom at European news group Mediahuis. Aisha Majid interviews Trui Lanckriet, MediaHuis' group data and insights director  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dominic Ponsford, Charlotte Tobitt and William Turvill from Press Gazette sum up the big news media trends from the first half of 2023.They share what we have learned so far about generative AI, the looming showdown between news publishers and tech giants and a macro-economic climate which is costing thousands of journalists their jobs.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Times columnist Rachel Sylvester talks to Press Gazette about a pioneering project which is shaping the policy agenda in two major areas of public life: education and health. Over the last two years she has been leading commissions charged with developing concrete solutions for reforming these two areas. The results have been welcomed by politicians and readers alike and spawned numerous editorial spin-offs. She spoke to Press Gazette about how this form of solutions journalism has resonated with readers and created rich source of content for the title (and why any commercial benefits are secondary in her eyes). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dominic Ponsford speaks to CEO of Agate Dominic Young about the threat posed to the news business by generative AI and reveals what publishers can do about it.Young was closely involved in licensing and digital development at News International in the early years of online publishing.He feels news publishers and regulators must learn from the mistakes of the past when tech platforms were given the legislative opt-outs which allowed them to build their current huge empires. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In seven years at US sports and lifestyle digital media powerhouse Barstool Sports, chief executive Erika Ayers has helped grow revenues from around $2m to above $250m.Ayers told the latest episode of Press Gazette's Future of Media Explained podcast about the diverse revenue mix that has made this possible - and why the company has continued to grow when other digital-first and social media-heavy media outlets have begun to fall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the 48th episode of Press Gazette's Future of Media explained podcast we speak with Malcolm Moore, the editor of the Financial Times' low-price product FT Edit.When Press Gazette last interviewed Moore in March 2022, when FT Edit had just launched, he shared his hopes that the new app would entice a group of new paying readers toward the FT - without cannibalising its existing audience.More than a year on, we check in with Moore to hear (some very promising things) about how the experiment has progressed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Deegan is the president and chief executive of News Media Canada, which represents 560 news publishers across Canada. Since starting in his role around two years ago, Deegan has been at the forefront of Canada’s battle to force Google and Facebook to pay for news. With the nation’s Online News Act approaching passage into law, Press Gazette’s William Turvill interviewed Deegan to learn more about the story behind this legislation – and how big tech has fought back with threats and news-blocking experiments. Canada's bill seeks to build on Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code and will help inform UK legislators as similar rules are drawn up in Westminster. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of Press Gazette’s Future of Media Explained podcast features an interview with Christian Broughton, Managing Director of The Independent. The Independent runs one of the best-known affiliate marketing operations among news publishers through its Indy Best product reviews and recommendations section. As advertising revenue has declined, publishers are increasingly turning to other ways to make news pay and e-commerce, which includes affiliate marketing, is a key income stream for the Independent which went online only in 2016.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown talks to Press Gazette about the future of investigative journalism and the legacy of her late husband Sir Harry Evans.She shares her concerns about quality journalism and shares some solutions about what can be done to save it.Brown also has some forthright views about Prince Harry and his fight against the UK tabloids over allegations of phone-hacking and illegal information gathering. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Aaronovitch left The Times in March after 18 years as a columnist with the paper. But he quickly got underway with his solo venture: Notes from the Underground, hosted on Substack.In this week's Future of Media Explained podcast, Aaronovitch discusses his departure from The Times, why he decided to write for Substack, and shared his views on how newspaper comment sections have changed in recent years. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Harrison, the co-founder and group editor of Podmasters, was one of the early pioneers of British current affairs podcasting. He and his team launched Remainiacs (since rebranded as Oh God, What Now?) in 2017 using Harrison's PPI compensation payout. Today Podmasters produces several other shows, including The Bunker, Hello Girls and Mugshots with Michael Crick. In this week's Future of Media Explained, Harrison speaks to Press Gazette's William Turvill about the growth of Podmasters and the future of the British podcasting sector. (PwC last year forecast that the UK's podcast ad market would be worth £64m by 2025. Harrison says that figure appears "really low".) Harrison also makes the case for why the BBC's podcast platform, Sounds, should be opened up to boost the independent sector.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NME was founded as a newspaper devoted to rock music back in 1952. More than 70 years on, and NME is no longer in print and covers a broad range of music, as well as film, TV and gaming. In this week's podcast, Holly Bishop, the chief operating officer of NME Networks, which also includes Uncut, Musictech and Guitar.com, speaks to Press Gazette's William Turvill about the future of music journalism and the challenges of keeping NME relevant as a brand in 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Covid-19 pandemic led Conde Nast to accelerate its plans to create a digital-first global content strategy. Several of its biggest brands, including Vogue, GQ and Conde Nast Traveller, have now restructured under global leaders - ending unnecessary competition and sharing the same joint vision and ethos for the first time.GQ global editorial director Will Welch spoke to Press Gazette about how the magazine brand has evolved under his editorship, how teams on its 20 international editions now work together and how this benefits its advertising clients.Welch was speaking shortly before the launch of GQ's inaugural Creativity issue, the first time the magazine will share the same pages cover to cover in every market, and Global Creativity Awards gala being held in New York. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of News UK’s top executives talks to Press Gazette about how Rupert Murdoch’s most beloved brand is still managing to pay its way.Dominic Carter is executive vice president and publisher of The Sun and he talks explains how the title has maintained its position as the UK’s most popular commercial news brand and why digital revenue growth is outpacing print decline. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The New York Times has the most paying subscribers of any English-language publisher, boasting some 9.6 million people buying access.But they're not all there for the Gray Lady's reporting: more than a tenth of those subscribers are paying for access to the Times' games offering - with no news included.On this week's podcast The New York Times' head of games, Jonathan Knight, tells Press Gazette the publisher's investment in games creates a valuable funnel for bringing in subscribers (and keeping existing ones around).But it's more complicated than sticking a sudoku on the website - the NYT has editors exclusively assigned to curating its game offering, and the publication puts great effort into keeping its community socially engaged with the puzzles.Listen to hear more on The New York Times' gaming strategy, who it sees as its rivals and why there's a commercial logic to investing in crossword writers from more diverse backgrounds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

American investigative magazine Mother Jones began life in 1976 with the idea of producing a "new brand of socially conscious journalism".As an independent non-profit outlet, Mother Jones relies upon readers for three-quarters of its revenue - both in the form of subscriptions but especially donations.About 50,000 people support Mother Jones journalism each year with donations, while its magazine has about 180,000 subscribers.In the latest episode of the Future of Media Explained podcast, Press Gazette UK editor Charlotte Tobitt speaks to Mother Jones chief executive Monika Bauerlein about how to successfully encourage readers to open their wallets, why being audience-funded is so important for an investigative journalism outlet, the importance of transparency on the numbers, and combatting news fatigue. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 News editor Cait Fitzsimons has sat down with Press Gazette to discuss the programme and its place in broadcasting following its relaunch and expansion. 5 News has gone from creating two half-hourly bulletins at 5pm and 6.30pm, which had to largely repeat themselves, to one hour-long 5pm programme, allowing it to go more in-depth and add new content strands. Dan Walker will present alongside Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije. Fitzsimons discussed the reasoning behind and impact of those changes, and said the programme is now on a “positive upward trajectory” in its viewing figures. She warned, however, that public service broadcasters should have their prominence guaranteed in a digital-first world (although that does not mean 5 News needs its own website). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Women's magazines (along with other mag sectors) had a tough time in the 2010s, with Marie Claire, Now, InStyle UK, Look and Glamour among the print closures.But Cosmopolitan UK, owned by Hearst, survived that difficult period and has now massively grown its digital audience in the past eight years from about four million users per month to 16.8 million.It has made it its mission to be on top of the latest trends, including being one of the first publishers to create shows for Snapchat Discover in the UK in 2018 and experimenting with gaming platform Roblox last year.Cosmopolitan UK editor-in-chief Claire Hodgson spoke to Press Gazette about what defines the brand in 2023, the role of a modern magazine editor, and how they are preparing for whatever the future may hold next. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 35th episode of Press Gazette’s Future of Media Explained podcast features an interview with Edward McCann, Director of Publishing Operations at Mediahuis Ireland - parent company of the Belfast Telegraph.Successful digital paywalls are a relative rarity in local news in the UK. Since launching its digital subscriptions programme in May 2020, the Belfast Telegraph however, has already managed to reach 8,500 paid subscribers. McCann speaks to Aisha, Press Gazette’s data journalist about how the Northern Ireland-based title has managed to grow its subscriptions revenue, despite not being the only paywalled news site in the province. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Press Gazette’s 34th Future of Media Explained podcast takes a look at climate reporting - and why fresh-faced reporters out of journalism school are choosing it as a beat over sports or foreign postings.We sat down with Carbon Brief’s editor Leo Hickman to talk about philanthropic funding, diversifying revenue, wonky content that nonetheless attracts lay readers and whether it’s possible to get around news avoidance when you’re working with fundamentally depressing subjects. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's episode looks at paywall strategies for publishers in 2023 and is sponored by AdvantageCS.In a tough market, paywalls, podcasts and newsletters have been identified as strong areas to find new revenue this year.We spoke to Philippe van Mastrigt, director of European operations for one of the longest-established subscription technology companies in the world AdvantageCS, and Katia Debusschere, manager of acquisition and retention at Mediahuis Belgium.  They talked to Press Gazette about how news publishers globally are protecting and growing online news subscriptions, what's working and what isn't. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sky News was named News Provider of the Year at Press Gazette's British Journalism Awards in December.The news broadcaster had a huge year - putting journalists on the ground in Ukraine every single day, covering the death of the Queen and her funeral, and chasing the latest political updates as the UK cycled through three prime ministers.But it also saw major growth in its Tiktok following, securing itself as the biggest UK news broadcaster on the platform, while investment in its podcasting and data and forensics journalism also paid off.Sky News director of content Cristina Nicolotti Squires and director of newsgathering Jonathan Levy spoke to Press Gazette's Future of Media Explained podcast about their successes of 2022, how important digital consumption has become versus the TV channel, and what they hope to achieve in 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Newsletters are a growing tool for increasing engagement and loyalty – but it’s not one-size-fits-all.Metro.co.uk has 11 newsletters, with more to come soon. Some are up to eight years old, while others are relatively recent additions as the site aims to boost its direct relationships with readers and reduce its reliance on platforms like Facebook and Google.The website’s editor Deborah Arthurs spoke to Press Gazette UK editor Charlotte Tobitt about when to prioritise click-through rates versus open rates, how to stop newsletters from feeling stale and why it is so nice to have a product with an “end” point for the reader. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Press Gazette talks to the journalist who first broke news of Harry and Meghan’s romance, Camilla Tominey, about the future of royal reporting.Tominey balances covering politics with royalty and is an associate editor of the Daily Telegraph and host of the Camilla Tominey show on GB News. She explains why Harry has got the press all wrong, why she stands by her reporting of the infamous bridesmaid’s dress fitting row and why she won’t be suing the Duke of Sussex despite his personal attack on her professionalism in his best-selling memoir. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 29th episode of Press Gazette’s Future of Media Explained podcast features an interview with Nic Newman, senior research associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Each year RISJ surveys hundreds of news leaders around the world to capture their thoughts on predictions for the year ahead and how they view the trends shaping the industry. Newman speaks to Aisha, Press Gazette’s data journalist about this year's survey and how the industry feels about revenue prospects, news avoidance and how to attract audiences in 2023.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sit back and share a glass of sparkling wine with the Press Gazette team as they reflect on a year in media and share some predictions about what will happen next.From news avoidance to the big B2B bounceback, Dominic Ponsford, Charlotte Tobitt, Will Turvill and Bron Maher explained what they learned in 2022 and reveal the biggest challenges for news media in 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anna Palmer is the co-founder and chief executive of Punchbowl News, a subscription-based political news startup based in Washington, DC. In this episode, former Politico journalist Palmer speaks to Press Gazette's William Turvill about her career, political journalism in the US, and the growth of Punchbowl, which was launched in January 2021. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An earlier version of this podcast was missing a section, this has now been corrected.Press Gazette editor in chief Dominic Ponsford spoke to Ink Publishing chief executive Simon Leslie about how his company bounced back from disaster in 2020.It went from being the biggest in-flight magazine publisher in the world, with turnover of £100m, to zero overnight in March 2020. He talks about how the company recovered and reinvented itself with a little bit of help from 50 of the world's leading motivational speakers including Wim Hoff, Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort and diminutive US mountaineer Alison Levine.Leslie has plenty of upbeat advice for media CEOs who may be worrying about the current economic downturn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Co-founder of Tortoise and former president of Dow Jones Katie Vanneck-Smith spoke to Press Gazette about leadership as she starts her new role as CEO of Hearst UK.She explained why you need to treat colleagues like family, the big mistake they made launching Tortoise (and how they fixed it) and why there are opportunities in a downturn. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sponsored by DanAds, the 24th episode of the Press Gazette Future of Media Explained podcast looks at self-serve advertising.Press Gazette's reporter Bron Maher spoke with DanAds chief marketing officer Lisen Zethraeus, National World's director of digital monetisation Jade Power and Tripadvisor Ad Express' Eoin McGregor about what's useful about self-serve ads for publishers.We heard that self-serve systems hand time back to stretched sales departments, that they open publishers up to valuable revenue from smaller advertisers, and - most importantly for Bron - what self-serve advertising is in the first place. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sean Griffey is the chief executive and co-founder of Industry Dive, a US B2B publisher that was recently acquired by Informa for £323m. Here he speaks to Press Gazette's William Turvill about how he built his business from scratch, why Industry Dive has opted against putting its titles behind paywalls, and future growth plans.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We spoke to editor of Tortoise studios Ceri Thomas and head of strategy at Auddy Oliver Thomas about the future of podcasting.Thomas explained how podcasting has become central to everything the slow-news publisher does and revealed that be believes it now as the largest podcasting newsroom in London (outside the BBC). Oliver Thomas explained why technology and improved discoverability mean that podcasting could become as ubiquitous as online video in the years to come.This episode was sponsored by Auddy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*Partner content. In the newest edition of Press Gazette's Future of Media Explained podcast, we sat down with Reuters to hear how they're gearing up to cover what looks to be a contentious nail-biter of an election.With the close-run midterms only a week away, the wire agency's politics and digital verification editors say some misinformation has become so entrenched it has changed the shape of their election coverage.They told Press Gazette reporter Bron Maher about zany claims breaching into the mainstream, what goes into running multi-state election coverage and what the business case is for investing in fact-checking. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Janice Min is a former leader of The Hollywood Reporter and Us Weekly. Now she is attempting to build up Ankler Media, a newsletter start-up that covers the Hollywood entertainment industry. Here she speaks to Press Gazette's William Turvill about her career, Ankler and the future of newsletters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Press Gazette's William Turvill interviews M Scott Havens, the chief executive of Bloomberg Media. Havens, who took up his role earlier this year, spoke about why he believes his company is well-positioned to thrive despite a “looming recession” threatened the global media industry. He believes Bloomberg Media, the consumer arm of Michael Bloomberg’s financial giant, is in a “unique position” to take advantage of growing demand for impartial news. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our latest podcast takes an a look out how to make costly mistakes when investing in a new content management system.Experts from Hello, CNN, New Statesman Media Group and our sponsor Big Bite share their insights into how to future-proof the content architecture on your website.To unlock your publishing potential, talk to Big Bite today - head over to bigbite.net to get in touch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Press Gazette's William Turvill interviews Jim VandeHei, the co-founder and chief executive of US news outlet Axios. Founded in January 2017, Axios has risen to become a significant player in the American news industry. Over the summer, Cox Enterprises acquired the business for $525m. In this episode, VandeHei (also a co-founder of Politico) speaks about the rise of the journalist-entrepreneur, the most exciting news startups in the US, and his new book, Smart Brevity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The latest Future of Media Explained episode draws on Press Gazette's Future of Media Technology Conference to reveal seven key insights for media leaders.It features contributions from News UK chief operating officer David Dinsmore, former DC Thomson CEO Ellis Watson and Evening Standard head of audio David Marsland among others as well as most of the Press Gazette team. In short, media leaders need to cheer up - but for God's sake look after your data. There's lots of insight in this episode for everyone and it is a must-listen, condensing a day-long conference into seven key take-homes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Financial Times investigative reporter Dan McCrum was named Press Gazette's journalist of the year at the 2020 British Journalism Awards for his part in the "brave" investigation that took down German fintech giant Wirecard. McCrum and his FT colleagues, who also won investigation of the year, spent a total of six years trying to expose fraud at the company, and along the way faced smears, criminal charges in Germany, threats and intimidation. The investigation racked up hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal bills for the FT – but the newspaper provided its investigations team with the time and resources to stick with the story despite the cost and risks. McCrum has now spoken to Press Gazette to mark the release of a new Netflix documentary about the story: Skandal! Bringing Down Wildcard. He spoke about the hardest parts of the story and its personal risks - and why it is so important for the FT and other newspapers to facilitate these major investigations.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Online abuse towards journalists has become an endemic problem since the rise of social media. A Unesco survey last year found 73% of female journalists worldwide had experienced hostility online and said this had a "chilling" effect - but all demographics are affected.Last year Reach created an industry-first role, an online safety editor, and appointed Rebecca Whittington to lead efforts internally and externally to tackle the problem.Her job involves both supporting staff who are affected and liaising with the likes of social media platforms and the Government to call for wider action against abuse.Whittington joined Press Gazette UK editor Charlotte Tobitt to reveal how the first nine months of the job have gone, what she has been able to put into action so far, and why she is a "critical friend" of Meta and Twitter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.