Pandemic Driven Trends in Media: Accelerated Digital Transformation, Ad Bounceback and Hunger for Biotech News

April 19, 2021

Thank you for everyone who has made the decision to make the move to the new newsletter after Nuzzel made the decision to get out of the newsletter business. Fortunately, they are continuing their core offering.

Some days, it seems that the news gods and goddesses are all on the same page, and today, the theme seems to be the pandemic, not just the aftermath but also green shots. Well, green shots might be underselling the rebound in advertising in some markets.

After Pandemic Swoon, Digital Ads Roar Back

Subscriptions may be the rage, but businesses of all sorts are pouring money into advertising — digital most of all. If you wanted to sound smart at a media business conference or sell your start-up over the last couple of years, you’d talk about the rise of digital subscriptions.

“Ad spending is red-hot right now,” says Henry Blodget, a co-founder of Business Insider, which was early to introduce a subscription tier in 2017. “The economy is cranking up, travel and leisure are coming back, and consumers are emerging from their pandemic cocoons.”

News Publishers Focused on Agility

One of the many silver linings of the pandemic for publishers has been the ability of their organisations to adapt quickly to this changing environment. For many, this meant speeding up their digital transformation efforts. In our just-published World Press Trends Outlook report, publishers told us that accelerating their digital transformation strategy was the most important change to make.

With all of the disruption caused by COVID-19, 44% of publishers said that they were leaning into their digital transformation plans. This means "increasingly daudiences-first, reader revenue, data and product development".

Pandemic Fuels Biotech News Site Growth

STAT was among the first to report that there was such a thing as COVID-19. Now traffic is up fivefold, and staffing is up 50%.

"STAT chose to keep its COVID-19 coverage in front of its paywall. That fed growth of its premium level paid subscriptions and added appeal for sponsoring advertisers."

HuffPost UK Sees Editorial Leadership Exodus

Press Gazette has been reporting on British journalism without fear or favour since 1965. Our mission is to provide a news and information service which helps the UK journalism.

Editor-in-Chief Jess Brammar, head of news Ramzy Alwakeel and news editor Sam Gelder all leaving as the BuzzFeed-owned site looks to cut its way to profitability.

The AP and the NYTimes Get Into NFTs

The New York Times, Time, and the AP have racked up six-figure sales of digital assets that could be a future revenue stream—or the next bubble to burst. “If it doesn’t make sense,” Quartz’s CEO says of the frenzy, “it probably doesn’t make sense.”

Hey if the AP can net $180,000 in cryptocurrency for selling archive images, why not? Get in while the getting is good.

Crypto Focused Media Co Buys Out Investors

It had raised just over $4 million from investors since its founding in 2018.

Interesting in that a not-yet-profitable company covering the crypto industry has bought out its investors so that it can cover VCs independently.

News Industry Looks for Pandemic Support

President Biden’s infrastructure bill has sparked debate over what qualifies. Is broadband infrastructure? Of course it is — and so are other key components of our information systems, especially local journalism.

There were stories on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean looking for more government support for news organisations still suffering from the economic impact of the pandemic.

Thanks again for those who responded to the GDPR notice making sure that you still wanted to receive the newsletter as we changed up newsletter services. I am enjoying having the ability to write a bit more around the stories that I highlight. Again, as I make the shift, I'm up for other changes that might add value. Let me know what you'd like to see.