Next year, I'll be conducting a webinar on building a data culture for the Eurovision Academy, EBU's training wing, and two pieces from my friends at What's New in Publishing caught my eye this morning. First, there is a great summary of an INMA report on how publishers are 'cracking' data and using it to build customer-centric businesses. If you want to create great products, you need to know how to use data to reduce uncertainty and understand your customers needs.

And when you're operationalising your product strategy, you need to know what your 'North Star' metric is. This looks that trend of tech firms speaking about the metric that they really pay attention to, but it is also a great overview of developing goals in newsrooms through strategies such as OKRs - objectives and key results, a methodology also borrowed from tech. One of Google's early investors and advisors John Doerr introduced the system at Intel and then to Google during its start-up phase.

PLUS we have a podcast that highlights what has worked and what hasn't in terms of virtual events at the LATimes. Major publishers are planning (and probably revising) their back-to-office plans, and Digiday has an excellent interview with an editor about her anxieties about going back into the office. It really speaks to how isolating WFH has been for some. And we've got a roundup of industry trends and news.

"Publishers finally are cracking it," and using data to transform their businesses: INMA report | What’s New in Publishing | Digital Publishing News — whatsnewinpublishing.com

Data is the fuel that’s going to power publishers’ revenues and overall growth in the coming years. It’s importance has increased with the decline in advertising and shift to reader revenues, and the impending phase-out of third party cookies. “When Google announced the cookie apocalypse in early 2020, they accelerated the preparations for many publishers …

A review of a report that quotes my friend Greg Piechota: “Data basically is a way for companies to become customer-centric. It’s a tool. Data is basically feedback about how customers are using your product. If we want to know our customers so we can better serve their needs with products and services, we collect data and analyse it.”

The challenge of finding your newsroom’s North Star metric | What’s New in Publishing | Digital Publishing News — whatsnewinpublishing.com

Successful publishers understand the value of having an easy to follow and measure key metric Simple ideas can go a long way. Look at Google’s initial concept: the web is growing quickly, people need to search for stuff – let’s build a search engine. Or Facebook: people online want to connect with friends and family …

A good overview of not only 'North Star' metrics but also about how to build a data culture and use techniques such as OKRs - objectives and key results, a goal-setting methodology used by Intel and popularised by Google.

Better News: LA Times Creates Compelling Virtual Events During Pandemic — itsalljournalism.com

The Los Angeles Times has a long history of hosting successful in-person events. Its annual Festival of Books, for example, draws more than 150,000 people every spring. But when the COVID-19 pande

Podcast speaks to LATimes leaders on what worked and what didn't for virtual events.

Return-to-Office Plans and Anxieties

New pandemic realities: Gannett, Graham, Scripps navigate return-to-office, revenue effects | Local Media Association + Local Media Foundation — localmedia.org

People have been trying to plan for life post-pandemic, but now company leaders wonder if we are even there yet, in light of the COVID-19 Delta variant and the recent surge in cases. Leaders from Gannett, Graham Media Group and The E.W. Scripps Co. recently shared how they have approached return-to-office and revenue effects since […]

Gannett, where I worked as a regional executive editor, surveyed 5000 employees: 94% of employees said they desire a remote or hybrid work model, and 54% said flexible work location is a top element for the future workplace.

‘Harder than I expected’: Confessions of a media employee on their experience returning to the office — digiday.com

I do wonder: when will the office open and when will my job be what it’s supposed to be? I don’t want this to be my normal.

At the beginning, I thought, “This is great, to be able to leave the house and socialize again,” but things are still so strange and inconsistent at the moment that it’s kind of frustrating because it’s still not adding any normalcy or consistency to my life. I’m looking for some kind of consistency in reopening the office.

Industry Trends and News

Research: US smart home device adoption reaches 36% | — advanced-television.com

Parks Associates research shows that 36 per cent of US broadband households now own a smart home device, an increase of 2 per cent over Q4 2020. “The residen

The owner of Politico is said to be seeking $1 billion in a deal with Axel Springer. — www.nytimes.com

Robert Allbritton, the owner of Politico, is weighing a lucrative payday against maintaining full control over a widely read Washington news site.

German giant looks to add to its growing portfolio. This is a savvy move, especially with Politico's European operations.

BBC Children’s names Mossahebi Head of Digital Media | — advanced-television.com

Lydia Mossahebi is to take up a new leadership role in BBC Children’s & Education. Starting in September, Mossahebi will be head of the teams responsible

"Mossahebi has over 10 years’ experience across digital and broadcasting and is currently the Editorial Director at KidsKnowBest, an agency specialising in connecting kids and families with brands. Prior to that, she was Head of Editorial at Beano Studios and an online producer at Channel 4."

Journalists and Fandoms COLLIDE, Everyone LOSES – Study Hall — studyhall.xyz

Last Monday, BuzzFeed published a profile of internet celebrity Trisha Paytas by Scaachi Koul. For those following the saga, the profile was actually the conclusion to a months-long harassment campaig

A look at the harassment that journalists can face when they cover influencers, especially ones with devoted fan bases whose culture strays into trolling.