Membership Puzzle Project Winds Down; Verdict? Membership Is More Complicated Than They Thought PLUS Good NFT Media Case study with SCMP

August 06, 2021

The Membership Puzzle Project is winding down after four years, and they are having a virtual conference this week. It's worth checking out. Jay Rosen talks about the project's findings plus also giving some context for the project. I had forgot that this came out of work with De Correspondent.

An inspiring story from an Australian media entrepreneur on weathering the pandemic. It's a great inside look at the challenges of running a media business during the pandemic and also an insight into the entrepreneurial thinking.

Plus a look at the state of play with sensor journalism and an excellent overview of NFTs by my friends at journalism.co.uk with a case study from SCMP - Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

The public research project analyzed membership projects worldwide. They found successful communities were fixated on learning what their members value.

The thing that really stood out for me as Jay Rosen looks back on the project is the complexity of membership business models and also how membership is part of a revenue mix, it's rarely, if ever, the only revenue stream.

At the start of the third quarter of 2021, publishers are more reliant on direct-sold advertising than they were a year ago.

Direct sales ads are up but "many areas of strategic importance, such as subscriptions, are basically flat compared to where they were 12 months ago as at least “large” sources of revenue."

I am not going to lie, the past 18 months have been incredibly challenging in the lifestyle media landscape. As a bit of backstory – I am based in Australia, and own lifestyle media companies Honeycombers and HoneyKids and which operate in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bali (Indonesia).My businesses rely heavily on arts, entertainment, hotels, […]

An interesting story by an Australian media entrepreneur. One thing that really stood out for me is how after finding value in a business coach, she then spun up a business providing business coaching to other media businesses. That's entrepreneurship.

Global ad spend on Facebook and Instagram increased almost 50% year-over-year, demonstrating more than simply a “pandemic bounce-back”, according to CX platform Emplifi’s “State of Social Media and CX” report for Q2 2021. While only modest growth was seen from Q1 to Q2 2021 (up 3.2%), there was a notable increase year-over-year (YoY). Marketers spent …

As advertisers ingest more campaign data and demand more control over it, custom algorithms are getting more attention. Here's why.

Algorithms are everywhere in media these days, and the ad business with its complex ad tech economy is a good place to monitor to see where developments are headed. Digiday is reporting on how advertisers are now delivering custom algorithms to brands to drive performance. That's personalisation.

I am not going to lie, the past 18 months have been incredibly challenging in the lifestyle media landscape. As a bit of backstory – I am based in Australia, and own lifestyle media companies Honeycombers and HoneyKids and which operate in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bali (Indonesia).My businesses rely heavily on arts, entertainment, hotels, […]

Want to find out what the city is doing with homeless people's belongings when it "clears" an encampment? An answer's now just $29 away.

The company has been quietly building a roster of top talent.

"Puck says it's a media company covering 'power, money, & ego.'"

The publisher will turn its archives into NFTs that can be viewed, collected and traded by the public. But why does this matter to a news organisation?

A good write-up about what NFTs are and how media companies are using them, with Hong Kong's South China Morning Post being a good example.