Future of Newspapers

Innovation OpportunitiesJune 2014 – Turin, Italy

Amy Webb: 3 Things

1. Digital Media Futurist. Founder + CEO of Webbmedia Group, a digital strategy agency.

3. Trends for the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. Three opportunities for innovation within your organizations.

2. Online News Association. Former board of directors, conference organizer.

Story

Your Future

In three acts

Can you build a better thermostat?

1

Act One

In 2005, New Media Companies Barely Registered

Don’t worry. Google needs journalism more than consumers need Google.

But they were growing.....

courtesy of eTeknix

€2.34 billion

The nest: 3 things

1. It’s very pretty.

2. Control the temperature.

3. Learns your behavior.

Consumers Excited!

Climate Activists Excited!

90 Countries

How does this inform your work as an editor or publisher?

Google Calendar

Google Now

HUNGRY?

Google is the invisible information layer we rely on more each day.

Soon, our society will not be able to function without Google.

Must a product fail in order to fulfill its destiny?

How can newspapers fulfill their destinies in the next 10 years?

(Segue for Act 2...)

Why This Matters

Your Future = Like Google, news organizations must also become invisible and visible information layers that we cannot live without. What is your “Nest?”

Newspapers become technology companies.

2

Act Two

Think about how newscontent is distributed

The most successful media companies don’t produce any news

Acquisitions, Partnerships = opportunity

webbmediagroup.com

Cue ($50 million)

virtual personal assistant

PrimeSense ($345 million) semiconductors

Topsy ($200 million)

analytics

Waze ($966 million) crowdsourced

GPS navigation

Flutter ($40 million)

gesture recognition tech

Boston Dynamics

robotics

Nest Labs Inc ($3.2 billion)

connected home

DeepMind Technologies ($650 million)

artificial intelligence

Wavii ($30 million)

natural language processing

Nokia ($7.2 billion)

mobile phone unit

Yammer ($1.2 billion)

social networking

Skype ($8.5 billion)

telecommunications

Xobni ($40 million)

CRM

Qwiki ($50 million)

automated video production

Tumblr ($1.1 billion)

blogging

Summly ($30 million)

news summarization

Oculus VR ($2 billion)

virtual reality tech

Instagram ($1 billion)

photo sharing

WhatsApp ($19 billion)

mobile instant messaging

Bluefin Labs ($80 million)

social analytics

TweetDeck ($40 million)desktop client

Goodreads social network

IMDB movie database

Patch.com majority stake transferred

to investment company Hale Global

Who Owns What 10.0 The New Media Landscape in 2014

Newsweek sold to IBT Media

Boston Globe sold at a loss

Storyfulnews aggregation

Dow Jonesnews corporation

Myspacesold at a loss

Size of bubble corresponds to the number of overall acquisitions and partnerships. Examples are notable deals.

you can downloadthe full chart after

Historic Evolution of a media company

highlights.....

Platform First Digital First Tech First

Pre-Internet Era Early Internet Era Future Internet Era

Single Platform (newspaper, TV)

Traditional Platform (newspaper, TV) + Web, Social and Mobile

Media Tech Stack

Focuses on legacy media content Focuses on multimedia content

Focuses on building/ acquiring the tech that powers multimedia content

Relies on traditional advertising, word of mouthand social obligations to subscribe/ watch/ listen

Reacts to changes in search algorithms

Anticipates and plans for changes to search algorithms

Relies on traditional advertising, word of mouthand social obligations to subscribe/ watch/ listen

Reacts to changes in social media platforms

Anticipates and course-corrects for major changes in social media partners

Optimizes traditional content creation workflows

Optimizes digital content creation workflows

Optimizes all content distribution workflows

Develops content for the legacy media channel

Develops content for the device

Develops content for the consumer experience

Customizes content via location Customizes content via responsive design

Personalizes content for the individual consumer

Anticipates competition from other media companies

Anticipates competition from traditional and new media companies

Anticipates competition from external digital networks, algorithms, content marketing, search engine marketing

Monetizes the platform it offers

Monetizes the content it is creating and its platform offerings

Monetizes the technology, processes, audience and data it is creating

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The Evolution of a Media Company

For each category above, plot your media company using this spectrum. What does this tell you about your organization’s future?

Platform First Digital First Tech First

Pre-Internet Era Early Internet Era Future Internet Era

Single Platform (newspaper, TV)Traditional Platform (newspaper, TV) + Web, Social and Mobile

Media Tech Stack

Focused on legacy media content Focused on multimedia contentFocused on building/ acquiring the tech that powers multimedia content

Optimizes traditional news workflows

Optimizes digital content creation workflows

Optimizes all content distribution workflows

Develops content for the legacy media channel

Develops content for the deviceDevelops content for the consumer experience

Customizes content via locationCustomizes content via responsive design

Personalizes content for the individual consumer

Monetizes the platform it offersMonetizes the content it is creating and its platform offerings

Monetizes the technology, processes, audience and data it is creating

Case Study: VOX

Tech Stack

Definition: Layers of components used to create an application or provide a service.

Tech Stack

Tech Stack

Tech Stack

Newsroom Tech Stack

Vox’s Media Stack

•Platform for digital-native authoring and distribution.

•Native format for real-time news coverage.

•Liveblogging platform that uses Amazon’s Cloudfront CDN in S3 requests.

Which helped Vox create a new kind of digital storytelling template

Cards

Google Now Cards

Glass Environment

Response to smaller screen size and desire for sharable nuggets

Which is a bad design environment for longer NEWS stories

But! Cards are a good design template for NEWS explainers

Platform First Digital First Tech First

Pre-Internet Era Early Internet Era Future Internet Era

Single Platform (newspaper, TV)Traditional Platform (newspaper, TV) + Web, Social and Mobile

Media Tech Stack

Focused on legacy media content Focused on multimedia contentFocused on building/ acquiring the tech that powers multimedia content

Optimizes traditional news workflows

Optimizes digital content creation workflows

Optimizes all content distribution workflows

Develops content for the legacy media channel

Develops content for the deviceDevelops content for the consumer experience

Customizes content via locationCustomizes content via responsive design

Personalizes content for the individual consumer

Monetizes the platform it offersMonetizes the content it is creating and its platform offerings

Monetizes the technology, processes, audience and data it is creating

digital first ≠ tech first

“digital first” describes a workflow and an integration that should be a part of every journalism operation.

Current News Story Dimensions

Digital LEGACY

mobile, web, social, app, database, etc.

newspaper, TV broadcast, radio broadcast

Lon

gSh

ort

great UI design ≠ a great experience

Consumer

Future Story Dimensions

App or HTML5?

Screen size?

Home location?

New location?

Work location?

Commuting?

At the gym?

Eating dinner?

Lean forward?

Lean back?

Driving?

Jogging?

Researching?

Looking for social media posts?

Trending for her?

Will she engage?

New content recommendation?

Why This Matters

Your Future = Your news organization must transition into tech a organization that also produces exceptional content. You must build or acquire, and develop true partnerships.

News organizations must anchorour future tech communities.

3

Act Three

Confluence of...

•Research universities

•R&D labs (government, commercial)

•Highly educated workforce

•Wealth (venture capital, angels)

•Highly engaged businesses who want to innovate, collaborate and test new ideas

Tech & Innovation Hubs Worldwide

They just lack a community anchor

.....and a Niche

London new global hub

for cyber security

• Report on stories

• Adapt tech for storytelling

Near-Term Guardian Benefits...

Long-Term Guardian Benefits...

• Smarter, tech savvy workforce

• R&D for news products

• Extended collaborations as tech diaspora spreads

London new global hub

for bitcoin

• Report on stories

• Opportunity to own this hot topic

Near-Term FT Benefits...

Long-Term Guardian Benefits...

•New FT profit center R&D

•Experiment with new payment systems for FT news products

•Extended collaborations as tech diaspora spreads

Why This Matters

Your Future = The future of news innovation hinges on creative partnerships. Newspapers should be the tech anchors in their communities, as well as a trusted source of news.

EpilogueHow to future-proof

your newsroom

Does your project pass our F.U.T.U.R.E. Test?

Will your new project, acquisition or digital strategy endure as technology and consumer behavior evolve? Is it future-proofed and able to withstand changes both inside your organization and in the marketplace? This F.U.T.U.R.E. Test should be used to assess your project’s strengths and weaknesses, regardless of its size or scope.

Foundation Unique Track Urgent Recalibrate Extensible

Foundation. Do you have support from key stakeholders within your organization? Can your project continue to function and evolve, even as key stakeholders transition away from your organization? Do you have a reasonable amount of time, money and desire to shape, launch and maintain your project? Have you set initial benchmarks to measure levels of support? Are your short-term and long-term timelines realistic, given your available resources?

Foundation Unique Track Urgent Recalibrate Extensible

Unique. Is your unique value proposition clear to your customer, whether that’s another business or an individual user? Is your IP difficult to replicate? As competitors emerge, how will you help others continue to understand what differentiates you?

Track. Do you have complete access to the data your project is creating? Given your organization’s current or planned structure, are you able to set meaningful benchmarks and to measure outcomes? Can you use that data for reliable analysis for customer retention and acquisition, as you scale and for your long-term development cycle?

Urgent. Does your project communicate a sense of urgency, both to your staff and your intended audience? Will there be continued demand for your project in the marketplace? Can you create demand within your customers? Will customers see your project as indispensable and invaluable, even as the marketplace evolves and new competitors emerge?

Recalibrate. Can your project evolve along with its intended customer segments as they upgrade their personal/ corporate technology? Do you have a realistic budget to continue along a reasonable development cycle? Do you and your staff have the time to comprehensively evaluate the project every two or three months, in order to make adjustments? Do you and your staff have the desire to continue working on the project after it has launched?

Extensible. Does your project rely on third-party software, tools, devices, content or code that you and your staff cannot control? Will you be able to recalibrate your project internally, or must you rely on another company to implement necessary changes? Can your project still operate independent of device, software or network upgrades? As consumer tastes and preferences change, can you adapt your project without pivoting from your original idea?

Thanks!

webbmediagroup.com hello@webbmediagroup.com @webbmediagroup267-342-4300