analytics
Paywalls and Analytics
Paywalls need love, too. Unless you're tracking your analytics, you won't know if they're pitched correctly.
newsletters
Ghost's Publisher Weekly aims to support independent publishers
Publishing platform Ghost is building out a resource site and newsletter for independent publishers.
Johnston Press
The Final Days of Johnston Press
The clock is counting down to the end of Johnston Press, one of the great regional newspaper companies in the UK. The company is doomed - but can local news be saved?
Facebook's approach to news is getting ever more elitist - and controlling
Facebook is about to start pumping millions into news publishers to create Facebook Watch as a viable video channel. That's really uncomfortable timing…
algorithms
The LittleThings lesson publishers should be learning
The first major casualty of the Facebook algorithm change was announced last week: LittleThings was closing up, putting 100 people out of work. And, inevitably, they were a Facebook traffic-dependent publisher. Lucia Moses has written a great profile of LittleThings [https://digiday.com/media/live-algorithm-die-algorithm-littlethings-went-social-publishing-darling-shutting/] for Digiday: > CEO and
publishing strategy
The Spectator is harnessing digital to get record print sales
This is rather spectacular: Spectator subscriptions are at an all-time high, but not only that — print subscriptions are, too. Here’s how editor Fraser Nelson expains it [https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2018/02/the-spectators-print-sales-hit-a-190-year-high-thanks-to-digital/] : > Digital is behind the renaissance of print. The website brings millions of people to
Bored Panda lives - or dies - at Facebook’s whim
Fascinating profile of viral content site Bored Panda [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/technology/facebook-bored-panda.html] from the New York Times: > Last summer, Mr. Banisauskas traveled to New York to meet with a group of other Facebook-focused publishers. All these companies produce entertaining material that reaches millions
business strategy
How BuzzFeed UK handles its redundancies will tell us a lot about the future of the business
BuzzFeed UK to make 45 staff redundant [http://uk.businessinsider.com/buzzfeed-uk-to-make-45-staff-redundant-2017-12?r=US&IR=T] > The website’s London workforce was briefed on the plans on Thursday evening. In a tweet later confirmed by the company, media and politics reporter Mark Di Stefano said 45 of the
editorial strategy
How Mashable lost its identity - and its way
Lucia Moses on how Mashable killed itself [https://digiday.com/media/mashables-fire-sale-shows-limits-vc-funding/]: > The meme coverage that built Mashable was becoming commoditized. So Mashable used its new capital to hire Roberts and other pedigreed journalists. Soon, there were stories on terrorism and Ukraine leading the homepage, a big change for
blog platforms
Medium: a post-advertising business?
Interesting summation of Medium’s current business philosphy [https://medium.com/@ev/its-about-business-model-4cb23333bc5d?source=linkShare-616a00ae793c-1502634346] from Ev Williams: > If remuneration is not part of the equation for why you publish, I can’t imagine a stand-alone web site serving you better than Medium in terms of cost, simplicity, and,
business models
Süddeutsche Zeitung: selling the agile paywall with the right content
Another set of liveblogged notes from Digital Media Europe 2017. Typos, inaccuracy and howling crimes against grammar and syntax probable. Stefan Plöchinger, Digital Editor, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Editor in-Chief, SZ.de Who are Süddeutsche Zeitung [http://www.sueddeutsche.de]? They are the paper that got the Panama Papers [http://panamapapers.
Amedia: how to turn local news readers into subscribers
Norway’s Amedia is successfully converting local newspaper readers into digital subscribers. Here’s how they do it.