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Time Out’s future isn’t in media. That leaves a gap.
Time Out magazine has just printed its last edition. “It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to serve you in print for 54 years,” Editor-in-Chief Caroline McGinn wrote in the final issue. “Long may our love affair continue.” Now, the publisher will focus on digital information, as well as the expansion of its food markets. But there are still opportunities in print for savvy city-focused media organisations.
Plenty of commentators have pointed to the increasing unsustainability of Time Out’s print and ad-driven model in today’s media market. But as Flashes & Flames‘ Colin Morrison points out, there are other ‘city culture’ publications elsewhere that are thriving, even with print as a key product.
Australian digital media brand Broadsheet, which has a free quarterly print magazine, was profitable within three years of launching (and crucially, remains so). It’s not that there is no longer a market for a print guide to what’s on in cities. It’s that Time Out failed to develop the necessary digital audience alongside it.
How Mail+ delivered nine updates in two years and grew subscribers 300%
At FIPP Congress earlier this month, the U.K. news giant outlined its adoption of a “launch everyday” philosophy that, surprisingly, owes a lot to the paper’s print heritage. The result was a 300% increase in subscriber numbers in just two years. Denis Haman of Glide explained how the Mail+ team brought a print mindset to the evolution of the Mail+ subscription product first launched in 2013.
Reach audience boss: Traffic targets are basis of ‘honest conversations’
Reach’s Chief Audience Officer has defended page view targets. I think his explanation is bollocks. Fancy words, but the bottom line remains the same: page view targets disincentivise proper local reporting, and create a race to the bottom for quality local content. Recent analysis of local website traffic shows just how much the non-local audience of Reach’s sites is growing. That’s not sustainable for building audience trust or a future.
Hype is a weaponized form of optimism
Want to know the true value of AI, NFTs, and other much-touted technologies? Ignore the news and look at the harsh judgment of the market. I don’t agree with all of this – small changes can make big differences in time – but it’s nonetheless a fascinating argument, and should be reassuring to any publishers who are worried they haven’t yet minted any NFTs.
This content originally appeared in The Media Roundup, a daily newsletter from Media Voices. Subscribe here:
