Today I want to talk about current media trends. Below is the list that I have compiled.
1. Subscription model and paid membership
There is not enough money and people in the world who are willing to pay for news. Although almost four out of five publishers (79%) say subscription is their priority in 2022, many are looking for a mixed model with media (73%) and native (59%) advertising, events and sponsored activities from platforms. And for good reason — almost half of news agency executives worry that journalism with a subscription to read will only be aimed at a richer and more educated audience, leaving others aside.
To counter this, many publishers offer deals to people from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as The Daily Maverick in South Africa, which offers "pay as much as you can afford" membership, or Correio da Manhã in Portugal, which offers free subscriptions to people living in nursing homes. RISJ predicts that this trend will increase in 2022.
2. Podcasts, newsletters and short videos
To monetize the audience with subscription and membership products, publishers need to attract more readers, viewers and listeners.
To increase audience engagement, four out of five publishers surveyed plan to invest in podcasts and other digital audio, followed by newsletters (70%) and digital video formats (63%). Investments in technologies such as voice applications and the metaverse (hehe) are mostly not considered priorities.
Social platforms are investing in new audio creation or curation tools that open up the content creation market to anyone with a smartphone. This will create tougher competition, but it will also stimulate the overall consumption of audio content.
Apple and Spotify will open the market to individual authors, as Substack did for writers, which will increase competition.
Facebook Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are about half of the publishers surveyed who plan to pay more attention to Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and pay less attention to Twitter and Facebook. But even in this respect, independent authors can outrun journalists.
3. Big media will poach talent from platforms
In previous years, journalists have left their newsrooms and started their own businesses on Substack and other paid platforms, but not all of them have been successful.
Some of these talents will return to the editorial staff next year, although publishers will likely have to allow independent authors to continue producing their podcasts and newsletters at the same time.
4. Hybrid operation
Although the industry is recovering from the pandemic, few editorial offices are rushing to bring everyone back to the physical office. Most organizations plan to combine physical and remote work, while some are completely switching to virtual mode.
Although many employees successfully balance work, personal life and productivity by working from home, editorial managers worry about reduced creativity, reduced synergy and communication difficulties.
To make hybrid editorial work, managers must find better ways to communicate with their teams and take care of their mental health.
5. More decisions, less confrontation
Both journalists and viewers are tired of the relentless cycle of negative news. RISJ predicts that more emphasis will be placed on constructive news coverage formats, due in part to the greater diversity of newsroom executives who question traditional ideas about news production.
Western media will continue efforts to increase diversity in the upper echelons of news organizations by hiring and promoting women and people of color.
6. Security issues
As online and offline attacks on journalists continue, publishers are stepping up their support, including protection and training. Online interaction and controversial debates are also under scrutiny, and many news organizations are seeking to tighten rules on the use of social media to help curb abuse and increase public trust.
7. Climate change messages
It has been scientifically proven that urgent measures must be taken to prevent the dramatic effects of climate change. Publishers will try to attract an audience with climate content. There are several reasons for this: the slow pace of change, which makes it difficult to cover them in the news; a gloomy outlook; a lack of experienced journalists and money to travel to remote places; the complexity of the evidence base; and pressure from owners and advertisers.
Hiring journalists with a scientific background can be an outlet for publications. Journalists may also want to experiment with solutions and formats to counteract the gloominess that alienates the audience.
Sharing content and collaboration between different organizations that own scientific data will help solve the problem of lack of money.
Finally, journalists need to find the right balance between alarmism and agitation in order to maintain professional impartiality.
8. Platforms and regulation
Due to online misinformation about the coronavirus or the role of social media in events such as the storming of the U.S. Capitol, regulatory pressure is increasing on technology platforms.
The European Union is leading the way with its Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is designed to curb anti-competitive behavior among the largest players. The UK is planning to pass its Internet Security Law, which aims to sanction platforms that do not do enough to stop the spread of illegal and malicious content.
The success of the News Negotiation Code in Australia and the Copyright Directive in Europe will inspire even more countries, thanks to which large publishers received money from licensing content for platforms. However, these deals often benefit only reputable major players, not small and local publications.
News organizations are also starting to feel the impact of GDPR as it becomes more difficult to track users, making it more difficult to provide personalized services and make money from advertising. As third—party cookies become less profitable — and Google plans to phase them out anyway - more and more publishers will focus on collecting their own data through interactive features, events and contests.
9. Artificial Intelligence and the metaverse
AI and machine learning are gaining popularity in newsrooms. 85% of the surveyed publishers said it would be very important to create personalized content for the news audience this year.
Editorial offices are also looking to use AI-based tools to speed up some of the tasks of the news department, investigative journalism, or optimize subscription models.
New tools can help create original images and videos that can enhance anything from story illustrations to visual journalism. AI can also help journalists experiment with personalization and story formats.
As Facebook has evolved into Meta, there has been an increasing focus on the metaverse, a shared online environment that connects users through virtual or augmented reality. We may see more interviews done in the metaverse with participants' avatars, but it's safe to say that journalists aren't clinging to this concept yet. The main exception is sports broadcasters, which are implementing mixed reality studios that allow presenters to interact with virtual content and invite celebrities from remote locations.
Finally, more organizations may want to experiment with non-interchangeable tokens (NFT) after the success of publishers such as Quartz, South China Morning Post or The New York Times, which raised $860,000 from the sale of NFT. These digital items range from illustrations to original news, and they can be bought and sold online.