Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24 hours
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Tuesday, July 12, 2022
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Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24 hoursThe same-day cancellation rate likely includes subscribers who only wanted access to one article, or who felt the full paid experience was lacking after a quick look around. New data suggests some just really hate the idea of auto-renewal. By Sarah Scire. |
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Seven Georgia news outlets led by people of color get $2 million in funding“You can call these rural parts of the state news deserts. But in these deserts are oases.” By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
The New York Times / Benjamin Mullin
Ev Williams is stepping down as Medium’s CEO →
“Evan Williams, the serial tech entrepreneur who co-founded Twitter, said in a post on Tuesday that he was stepping down as the chief executive of Medium, the company he founded that sought to reinvent publishing on the internet.” Read Nieman Lab’s timeline of Medium’s history here.
Inbox Collective / Alex Hazlett
The Charlotte Ledger plows a new (and profitable) model for local news →
“Mecia and the team behind the email-first publication are carving out a viable, if complicated, path for local news that other would-be publications might emulate. The challenge is figuring out if their local conditions are right and if they're personally up for the work that's required to launch a publication like this.”
Dame Magazine / Parker Molloy
Mainstream media’s rightward lurch →
“The truth is that when Republicans win, the mainstream press feels the need to move to the right because they're out of touch, and when Democrats win, the mainstream press feels the need to move to the right because it's only a matter of time before Republicans win again. The answer to the millionaires and billionaires making these decisions is always to find an excuse to shift to the right.”
American Press Institute / No Author
Technologist and journalist Elite Truong will be the American Press Institute’s first vice president of product strategy →
“Truong will manage the existing American Press Institute product portfolio, which includes Metrics for News, an analytics tool that aligns journalism metrics with an organization's editorial values and business model, and Source Matters, a tool that allows publishers to track and improve the diversity of their organizations. As head of the Product Strategy team, she will help strengthen and expand the product portfolio, while also serving as a product coach and thought leader for the news industry.”
Inbox Collective / Dan Oshinsky
Dan Oshinsky launches Inbox Collective as a publication focused on improving newsletters →
In an email to subscribers, Oshinsky said Inbox Collective will be publishing a mix of how-tos, feature stories, and case studies three or four times per month.
The Guardian / Felicity Lawrence
Uber paid academics six-figure sums for research to feed to the media →
“Uber used techniques that had proven successful in partisan political settings to create the widespread belief that a company that has lost over £20bn was highly innovative and created huge benefits for consumers and cities," Hubert Horan, an economist at the University of Chicago's Stigler Center, said. "It became an unstoppable PR juggernaut."
Variety / Naman Ramachandran
BBC posts a record income of $6.4 billion and welcomes an “informed debate’ on future funding models →
“Addressing the future funding model of the BBC, [BBC chair Richard Sharp] said, ‘The government is planning to launch a review into the BBC's funding model. And from the board's point of view, we welcome an informed debate. We believe all options should be looked at, and nothing should be off the table.'”
The Guardian / Archie Bland
How Mark MacGann revealed the secret history of Uber →
“MacGann had two suitcases full of laptops, hard drives, iPhones and bundles of paper. He seemed nervous initially – ‘as is always the case at the start of these relationships’ – and he had ‘some anxiety about how much this was going to change his life.'”
The New York Times / Kate Conger and Mike Isaac
Elon Musk exposed Twitter's lack of business and financial prospects. After criticizing the company's weaknesses, now he wants to back out of buying it. →
“With each needling tweet and public taunt, Mr. Musk has eroded trust in the social media company, walloped employee morale, spooked potential advertisers, emphasized its financial difficulties and spread misinformation about how Twitter operates.”
Axios / Sara Fischer
The Information is launching a social network for subscribers →
New features include a Reddit-like news feed (with up- and down-ranking for articles), direct messaging, and a directory.
Rest of World / Viola Zhou
Racist videos about Africans fuel a multimillion-dollar Chinese industry →
“Rest of World analyzed more than two dozen popular accounts based in Guinea, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, and Kenya as well as other countries in Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia and found that the vloggers, with follower counts that reach into the millions, together make up a multimillion-dollar e-commerce industry. Part of China's livestreaming e-commerce boom, experts say, was built on top of hours of racist and misogynistic content.”
Digiday / Kayleigh Barber
Why The Wall Street Journal is centering personal finance on its new commerce site Buy Side →
“The timing of Buy Side's launch — which is likely taking place right before a recession — could be a unique challenge for most commerce publishers, with audiences starting to pinch their pennies and brands reconsidering their affiliate marketing budgets. But Leslie Yazel, head of content for Buy Side, believes that these circumstances could benefit her team's editorial strategy, thanks to the personal finance focus featured in each article.”
Poynter / Tom Jones
How The Washington Post is trying to reach the next generation →
“[Director of Next Generation Audiences] Phoebe Connelly's job is to not only figure out how to reach new audiences now, but in the future when there could be platforms that haven't even been invented yet.”
Axios / Sara Fischer
Spotify will acquire Heardle, a daily music trivia game inspired by Wordle →
“Like Wordle, Heardle is only available once daily to players on its own website and app. It gives users just six tries to guess a popular song based on its opening notes.”
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