Digital Innovation Digital Publishing
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The Must-Read Publishing Stories You May Have Missed October 4th 2019

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Google excluding French publishers from search results, why publishers need to commit more to subscription initiatives, and more…

There’s no happy ending for French publishers’ war with Google

Earlier this year, the European Parliament passed a law called the European Union Copyright Directive. One of the most controversial parts, Article 11, states that search engines and news aggregator platforms will have to pay to use third-party content, widely known as a ‘link tax’.

The past few weeks have seen tensions escalate between French publishers and search giant Google. France is the first country to transpose the Copyright Directive into national legislation, and are trying to force Google and Facebook to pay publishers to use snippets of content in search results.

Google (unsurprisingly) are fighting back, and have said that they will leave results blank, essentially blocking any results from European newspapers in France. Global media network FIPP have put together a comprehensive update on the situation this week.

It’s a complex situation, and the implications for both sides could fundamentally change the way we access content on the internet.

@WNIP

What’s new this week

Why aren’t most publishers succeeding with subscriptions? Research suggests they may not be trying (hard enough)

Almost 4 out of 10 publisher executives said that their company’s resource commitment to subscription initiatives is in the single-digit percentages, and an overwhelming 75% say they spend less than a fourth of resources on subscription efforts.

The rise and rise of Instagram: What publishers need to know
Instagram is being seen as the fastest growing social platform for magazine media, and many publishers have seen substantial increases in follower counts.
10 essential media stats from September 2019
Ad Tech’s latest flaws, social media and messaging app usage, podcasting’s impact at Slate, the value of evergreen content and the importance of original reporting by local newspapers.
“Ad investment is shifting heavily into internet formats”: Insights from WARC’s report
“Global Advertising Trends – Benchmarking ad investment by product category” sheds light on how different sectors value advertising media, and how this has changed over time.
Publishers opt for leaner websites to attract and keep users on site
Slow web pages affect traffic negatively. The BBC found that they lost an additional 10% of users for every extra second their site took to load.
“It’s like blackmail”: Fury as Google says it will exclude French publishers from search results
France is the first country to transpose into national legislation the Copyright Directive approved by the European Union earlier this year and establishing a publishers’ right.
Washington Post’s Arc CMS becomes a major revenue stream
For the first time, The Washington Post’s digital content management platform has licensed its technology to a company outside the media industry, the energy giant BP.
What’s new in adtech this September
With recent updates from both Apple’s Safari and Mozilla Firefox signalling the death of the cookie, unsurprisingly many adtech vendors are scrambling for a sugar-free diet.
Apple News+ is coming to Europe. Who’s joining?
To understand why UK publishers will or will not join Apple News+, we’re exploring why publishers were skeptical in the beginning, how Apple News+ has fared in the US, and more.
Why we need to stop obsessing about the latest news delivery vehicle
The rallying cry to pivot to something has become little more than the punchline to a bad joke. But, it’s a joke we keep telling.
Some Indian newsrooms are going back to the once-scorned comments section
Some news organizations in India are taking a second look at their comment sections on their websites after ignoring and in some cases, shutting them only a few years ago.
Magazines elevate storytelling to focus on climate change
Climate change has become an area for magazine publishers to not only devote entire issues to, but to go that extra mile in their storytelling.
How to build and maintain an audience, from a podcaster who nets 7 figures in annual ad revenue
Jordan Harbinger’s podcast is currently downloaded six million times a month, and nets seven figures per year in advertising revenue.
Content Recommendations: How to drive revenue by increasing relevance and avoiding clickbait
Organizations evaluating the content they recommend to readers should, like with any product, have a clear understanding of the goals of content personalization.