Digital Publishing
3 mins read

The Must-Read Publishing Stories You May Have Missed Feb 15th 2019

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Learning from the magazine market sectors that pay, why we should hold off judgement on the 50% Apple subscription deal, and more…

It’s too early to judge if this Apple is rotten

The latest scandal in the fraught platform-publisher relationship is this week’s revelation that Apple’s upcoming Spotify-style magazine subscription service will keep 50% of the revenue, with the remainder being split depending on how many people read the articles.

Monojoy Bhattacharjee reminds us this week that these are just rumours, and with Apple making the launch of the new subscription service a highlight of its product launch in March, we might be better to sit back and see what the facts turn out to be. After all, Apple putting publishers at the front and centre of its growth strategy is a first for the tech giant.

Still, even if ‘people familiar with the matter’ turn out to be incorrect, there are many reasons why publishers should think long and hard about getting on board with the subscription service. It might be beneficial for those without existing reader revenue strategies, but it could cause major issues for those who already have them in place.

@WNIP

Learning from the magazine market sectors that pay

Why is it that some areas of magazine publishing are thriving, while in others publishers are fighting to keep their magazines on the newsstands? Mary Hogarth examines those markets where titles are flourishing.

What’s new this week

Did publishers miss the “real” Apple story?
It’s highly unlikely that Apple would take any foolhardy step that would alienate publishers, whose partnership would be critical as the company moves deeper into services.
2019 Top revenue opportunities for your website: Breakfast event, London
Sovrn, Centaur Media, and What’s New in Publishing invite you to join us on Wednesday, February 27th 2019, for a breakfast discussion of this year’s top website revenue opportunities.
3 million+ subscribers: How The Telegraph acquires and retains readers
A key component of the strategy that helped drive subscribers’ growth was shifting from a metered paywall to a hybrid one, and gating 20% of the content for starters.
Why retention needs to be a bigger priority for magazine media in 2019
As increasing numbers of publishers around the world look to reader revenue strategies for sustainable business growth, retention has taken on new importance. 
5 key steps to effective content marketing for publishers, from The Economist
The Economist Group’s analytics and insights team analyzed the performance of its own content marketing programmes in a year-long content marketing study.
Publishers, this is where your traffic is going to come from in 2019
Platforms that look promising (SmartNews, and yes, still Flipboard), platforms that look like they’re slipping (Twitter), and platforms that cannot make up their mind (Google).
45% traffic decline to news publishers due to EU’s Article 11, Google reveals
“Even a moderate version of the experiment (where we showed the publication title, URL, and video thumbnails) led to a 45% reduction in traffic to news publishers.”
How The Economist used customer data to boost acquisition and engagement
To increase overall reader engagement, The Economist created content hubs, or individual pages that display digital content based on a reader’s interest for particular news topics.
AI in the newsroom: Robots are now helping drive up subscriptions
AI frees up journalists to focus on complex stories that robots won’t be able to do justice to, like opinion pieces and stories that require creativity, intuition, and critical thinking.
How consumer privacy regulation creates opportunities for publishers
With passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act and the likely imminent passage of the ePrivacy Regulation in the EU, the push for greater consumer privacy legislation seems unstoppable.
Digiday editor-in-chief Brian Morrissey on shifting digital publishing economics
On this week’s episode, Digiday editor-in-chief Brian Morrissey talks about publishing economics and sustainability, and the value of being really honest about change.
91% of online content is never seen: How to be a top 9% publisher
If you’re seeking guaranteed, meaningful interactions with your stories, one possible solution could be the Cost Per Read (CPR) model.
We are not here to save you: A resurgent Facebook warns publishers
“Facebook is constantly changing and not dependable,” announced the global head of news partnerships at Facebook, Campbell Brown.