The launch event of Media Voice’s Media Moments 2021 report is here, rounding up “all the key events and trends that have shaped the publishing and media landscape this year.” Top topics will include key developments in platforms, advertising, subscription trends, eCommerce, and emerging technologies such as the metaverse and NFTs.
The speakers include Brian Morrissey of The Rebooting newsletter and podcast, Charlotte Tobitt of Press Gazette, Professor Lucy Kueng of the Reuters Institute, and Dominic Perkins from Sovrn.
Charlotte Tobitt of Press Gazette talked about subscriptions and how they are an area of the industry that is doing very well. The retention rate remained stable after the pandemic. The key to this subscription model (recently launched by Instagram as well), rather than the number of subscribers, is their engagement: according to Tobbit, revenue per subscribers went up.
As pointed out by Professor Lucy Keung of the Reuters Institute, the metrics are getting more sophisticated, and are not only based on the number of general readers.
Chris Sutcliffe explained how e-commerce has exploded the past few years, and how a lot of the platforms – such as Snap Inc. – relying it have a tech advantage. He warned about the risks of using ecommerce methods on platforms that you don’t know or control.
Tobitt also adressed the importance of newsletters for journalists. According to Kueng, the growth in podcasts and newsletters is demonstrative of a major shift in the industry.
Kueng talked about the issue of media companies not having publishing as their core business, as a result of adding commerce to their activity. She pointed out how “the media industry doesn’t really exist anymore. There are many non-media players in the industry, like Amazon”. According to Kueng, for the people working in the media industry this means there is more chances of growth, but all the concepts of mass media have gradually evaporated, and it is becoming a conglomeration.
But whether or not the panel will be talking about NFTs and crypto next year is up in the air. Houston took a more skeptical view, in the way that he’s “skeptical of any Ponzi scheme.” But the work they’re doing right now isn’t as interesting as the use case that is being built up around it now. It could be the future of multiple industries – as people own a share of the content that gets created.
Morrissey took a less reserved stance, as the principles of it made sense, despite acknowledging that there’s “a lot of hot air and hype” currently. A better way to think about it would be as a membership, where NFTs are reflective of the entire shift to niche. The community might get literal stakes in the item, or it might unlock access to communities, or grant rights to people associated with it, all of which makes the future of crypto and NFTs very interesting.
To conclude the event, panelists were asked what were they most excited about for next year, as well as their hopes for next year.
Scarcity could be brought back to digital media, said Morrissey. The media industry’s great strength is their great weakness – that media is limitless.
But we’re seeing a shift to subscriptions, this flight to niche, we can see a world emerging which is a lot more focused on the product itself. News organisations are trying to pick up on the pulse of their communities, and local news has had a fantastic return. Keung hopes to see continue, and Thorpe agrees, seeing the revival of locally involved journalists with business models working for them.
Summing it up well, Tobitt said that they hope “publishers don’t forget what they’ve learnt and what their readers have told them over the pandemic.” Media organisations have seen good growth, and it would be a real shame to see it lapse.
Sutcliffe wants to see all the panelists back next year for another good talk, so you can follow Media Voices to see future events, and read the 2021 report here.
Interactive Journalist at City, University of London. Originally from Switzerland, very passionate about travel and nature journalism.