The must-read publishing stories you may have missed this week

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Six trends that will define media in 2019, which media will weather the winter, and more…

There’s a lot we can learn from the little guys.

It’s easy to get swept up in the industry doom and gloom at this time of year, especially given the quantity of predictions pieces pronouncing the end times for media businesses.

That’s not to say there’s not cause for concern. Of particular note late last year was the fall from grace of a number of digital pureplay publishers that fell short of high targets from their VC backers.

This week’s feature from Kevin Anderson takes a different approach. He argues that away from the hothouse glare of the VC-funded startups, there are smaller media companies that have been enjoying double digit growth with strategies that may not be radically innovative, but have delivered the goods.

We’d also recommend catching Damian Radcliffe’s round up of six strategic priorities for publishers and brands in 2019, drawn from the trends that shaped the sector over the past year.

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In charts: Six trends which will define media in 2019

As we enter a new year, it’s a great time to stop and take stock of the key trends which shaped the publishing sector over the past year. 

What’s new this week

Which media will weather the winter? 2018 was the year that the VC-funded media bubble burst. But that there are a number of smaller media companies playing the digital game successfully, and we can learn a lot from them.

Magazines: How to optimise audience engagement Cultivating a sustainable audience requires maximum brand reach. Mary Hogarth explores potential strategies from geographical expansion to brand extensions.

How Beano used data and insight to give digital life to a print brand kids love The longest running British children’s comic magazine has gone through a huge revolution, transforming itself from a purely print magazine into a global digital platform.

Top 10 (mostly free) digital tools for journalists We’ve listed a few of our top journalistic tools that consistently make our working lives easier, more productive, as well as helping us craft more engaging and compelling content.

Forbes doubles monthly visitors with Bertie, an AI-driven CMS Bertie is part of a broader focus on using artificial intelligence to make publishing more efficient for Forbes staff.

Podcast: What does 2019 hold for media? In the latest episode, Chris and Esther are joined by Damian Radcliffe to discuss what lessons from 2018 they want to see applied in the new year.

Implementing Artificial Intelligence for your readership For publishers, AI has the potential to deliver more relevant and targeted content for readers and ultimately drive subscriptions and renewals.

Magazine media M&As – what happened in 2018 in review In this industry, change is constant. 2018 was no different, with magazine media marketplaces restructuring, consolidating and diversifying.

Publishers’ guide to personalized and contextual ads Both publishers and advertisers now need to adapt their methods in reaching consumers beyond just personalized, audience or behavioral targeting.

Engagement metrics still viewed as less important than traditional brand measures A new survey from the World Media Group shows that marketers are still not using engagement metrics as their primary KPIs.

The best features on WNIP this year We round up our most popular feature stories this year, in case you missed them or want to read them again.