Content Aware media news: June 8, 2023

Insight for publishers, bidding wars for prestige titles, and DIYAI - all in this week's Content Aware.

Published: 10:00, 09 June 2023

Catch up on FIPP from tomorrow
Keep an eye on your socials and sites for the flood of fantastic insight and wisdom from FIPP World Media Congress attendees in Portugal. The event is just wrapping up now - we are sore-headed with amazing insight and advice - and will be well covered with reports on the many talks and discussions at the two-day event. Look for the lessons that matter to you.
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Site traffic highs and lows
SEO gurus are seeing chatter on the forums that Google has snuck out some new algorithm changes which are causing some quite noticeable variations in traffic. How are your stats looking?
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How media needs its strangers
Latest in the Media Voices Big Noises podcast series interviewing some of the most experienced and knowledgeable people in media and publishing is author and writer Amy Kean. She talks with host Peter Houston about the thing that makes so many people in our industry so special – and it’s not formulas and predictability.
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After the AI hype
FIPP Congress in Portugal had plenty of speakers on the subject of AI and what we can expect from it in publishing. One great talk by Dan Pacheco had this slide on the graph of disappointment new technology often takes us on: where are you on it right now?
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Bidding war looms for prime titles
Expect hot competition amongst suitors for two of the UK’s plummest media brands, The Telegraph newspaper and The Spectator magazine. Banking shenanigans has seen lenders take control of the titles, which are both profitable and growing. The Spectator is the oldest magazine in the world, while The Telegraph is one of the longest-standing broadsheets. Either would make appealing acquisitions to new backers or rivals.
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The egos have landed
As US media sees a raft of exits and departures of big names and senior personnel - and also of less-heralded but equally important roles in the guts of newsrooms - and with perfect timing if The Telegraph and The Spectator do get sold, Brian Morrissey wonders if the traditional appeal of power publishing is enough anymore to lure in owners willing to bet big on print and digital news.
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Small can be beautiful
Meanwhile, as supersized prestige titles fight their own battles at the top end of publishing, grassroots indies are showing a surprising increase in health according to a survey of UK titles that gives lessons for any territory.
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If you can't beat them
We're all contemplating the possible impact and uses of AI in publishing and content, but it's already looking wise for publishing to turn towards its own AI systems rather than place all its eggs in the ChatGPT or Bard baskets. Thus AP is already rolling out its own AI for search and content discovery. Why pad the bottom line of Google et al if you can build your own?
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Predicting who your fans are
Being certain which readers can be turned into subscribers is arguably the most satisfying bit of information a modern publisher can have. But... it's not easy. European media group Mediahuis has spoken about its insight-generating propensity modelling processes, and how to learn from them.
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Can readers be writers too?
Community and citizen journalism has huge appeal to those who feel it can be the missing link to truly reinvigorate local news reporting, which many publishers have been forced to roll back from.
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