- Digital Media Products, Strategy and Innovation by Kevin Anderson
- Posts
- Retaining talent, not that pay isn't the biggest issue PLUS Tips on reaching new audiences
Retaining talent, not that pay isn't the biggest issue PLUS Tips on reaching new audiences
As I am interviewing media leaders for Pugpig’s State of the Digital Publishing Market report, one of the messages I am hearing is the challenges of retaining talent. And this can be especially difficult for publishers in local media. The piece from the Local Media Association has some stark statistics. One major media company has a spreadsheet of top talent that they would like to poach, but more than 50% of the people on the list have left the industry in the last five years. Pay isn't the only issue or even the biggest issue. Read on.
Plus, we've got two solid pieces on how to reach audiences. For reaching young audiences, editors need to think beyond simply distributing their content to social platforms where they think young audiences are. They also need to rethink their coverage.
The Week Junior, The Financial Times and The News Statesman use podcasts to bring in new, loyal audiences that may pay for news
It's undeniable. There is a huge pivot to audio in the publishing industry. Just yesterday, Tortoise announced that it had struck a deal with Sky to turn option their podcasts for TV and film, and for a wider range of publishers, podcasts are playing an integral role in their subscriber acquisition strategies.
Advice for finding and retaining top talent - Local Media Association + Local Media Foundation — localmedia.org
Finding and retaining top talent is a competitive edge. On the other hand, toxic culture is a far stronger predictor of attrition, adjusting for industry, and is 10 times more important than compensation in predicting turnover.
As someone who is recruiting for two key positions right now (a product strategy consultant and and an audience and revenue consultant), I know how challenging it is to find top talent right now.
This piece is absolutely fascinating and quite honest about why media companies are struggling to retain talent. While it's easy to think that low pay in media - especially for entry level positions in local media - is the factor driving the loss of staff. It isn't. Rather "...toxic culture is a far stronger predictor of attrition, adjusting for industry, and is 10 times more important than compensation in predicting turnover."
Moreover, managers need to improve their skills in supporting staff dealing with burnout. Great insights here.
Media Briefing: How publishers are trying to get around the registration wall problem - Digiday — digiday.com
Publishers have a registration wall problem, but email alerts, Facebook ads and asking politely seems to be doing the trick to get readers' emails.
The key takeaway is that publishers with hard registration walls are struggling to capture emails so they are having to get creative both with their pitches and their channels to capture contacts.
How to reach younger, more diverse audiences - American Press Institute — www.americanpressinstitute.org
We talked with four leading journalists in regional newsrooms across the country about how we all try to reach younger and more diverse audiences with our coverage.
Reaching younger audiences is just as much about how we cover the story as where we distribute the story.
How The Washington Post’s Angel Mendoza uses Reddit to seek out new audiences – storybench — www.storybench.org
When Angel Mendoza interacts with other users on Reddit, he’s not doing it behind an anonymous username. He’s u/washingtonpost.
Reaching audiences in communities like Reddit has always meant that you can't just drop in when you need something. You need an authentic presence.
Can Meta's New Reels Ad Formats Compete With TikTok? - 10/12/2022
Meta has been struggling a bit with trying to copy and paste TikTok as it has done with so many other social networks that came before.
New job listings suggest the video-sharing service wants to own the logistics for its e-commerce operation.
Now this is commerce content.
Industry News: The FT shows strong results and Bloomberg rethinks programmatic
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.
Interestingly for the FT, which has leaned into digital subs so strongly, the rebound is attributed more to traditional revenue streams including print sales and advertising and live events. Am I being slightly unkind by lumping live events into traditional revenue? I guess events don't seem like a major innovation anymore.
The decision aims to improve the user experience
Bloomberg also is turning away from referral services like Taboola that "divert traffic away from the Bloomberg website". It will be interesting to see how many other media sites follow suit or feel that they can afford to. Not only do these ad services clutter sites, but they also dramatically increase the page load. My old Mac's fans spin up every time I'm on one of them. I almost expect the old laptop to lift off my desk.