The world of media is prone to generational changes. When I started out, the job I do now did not exist. I worked for a newspaper, and if you wanted to consume our journalism, you – and everyone else – read the same stories, curated by us, and stuck in the time that we printed them.
The internet changed things dramatically. Suddenly, readers were digital. True, they could still only read what we chose to write, but now that was being updated regularly – quite a different experience. Much of the media, previously focused on increasing print sales, now optimised for page views and advertising, but this was not a long-term strategy.
In 2026 and beyond, we are heading for an AI-driven media world where each customer (sadly no longer always ‘readers’) might be able to consume our content differently, and see it updated continuously.
In this fractured landscape, where the power of search traffic and social media have declined, page views – as if you didn’t know – do not equal success. Instead, our futures depend on deep, direct and meaningful relationships with our readers: the key is to think of the audience and serve them better.
Many of us have moved to subscriptions, paywalls or membership, a shift which means long-term sustainability depends on how you engage the audience you have acquired. It’s crucial to double down on habits and loyalty, and to offer something distinctive and valuable to make your subscribers return again and again.
Engagement, which we can define as how customers interact with your content (whether that is a news story, a podcast, comments, or a newsletter) starts with what those customers actually want. And it links directly to commercial priorities, not just in the form of subscriptions and retention, but beyond that, through first-party relationships and advertising quality. After all, it is far better for advertisers to know who they are advertising to.
The good thing about engagement is that there are tried and tested strategies which feed right into it. It also avoids any pesky social media algorithms.
Here are some of what I think are the most effective engagement strategies:
The community powerhouse
Today’s customers prize interaction with journalists, and are keen to build relationships with them. Events (live and online) and interactive Q&As are excellent ways to do this, and also showcase the value of a subscription. At the FT, we recently launched ‘Ask an Expert’, which Lucy Warwick-Ching, head of community, describes as “giving readers a direct line to FT columnists”. The format offers subscribers real-time access to our top names, with readers submitting questions before and during live sessions, which build up habits by taking place at the same time each week. They are proving very popular.
But it is not just about Q&As. Many media organisations – including the FT, Bloomberg and the Telegraph – run in-person events where readers can meet their favourite writers, to great effect. Alongside this has been an emphasis on the power of comments. Some younger readers go straight to the comments, both for a kind of summary of the piece, and also to see if it is actually worth reading. At the FT, those who comment are far more likely to retain their subscription.
I would also include some other community interaction in this section, such as WhatsApp groups.
Journalists as brands
This requires a media mind shift. The modern reader wants to feel they know the person behind the story and prizes that buzzword, ‘authenticity’. These relationships should be encouraged, meaning we need to build up our top names, giving them newsletters and podcasts, featuring them in videos and encouraging them to reply to comments. It is time to put longer journalist bios on your site and build series around big names. Media organisations are in danger of being overtaken by independent creators and must at least try to compete with them. This means accepting the importance of personal followings, and not worrying that they will overshadow the larger brand. Our FT writers have huge expertise and experience, something that should (and does) lead to that essential, unmeasurable metric, trust.
Newsletters – it’s all about the niche
Personal followings and individual franchises are seen more and more in newsletters, which are hugely powerful for engagement, retention and acquisition.
Newsletters work because they are so versatile and simple, creating direct relationships with readers who have specifically signed up to read what is on offer, and avoiding any algorithms (unlike social media). They give readers a sense of control, agency and intimacy, and I think they epitomise engagement. In fact, at the FT, we have a large number of subscribers who only engage with us through our newsletters.
Newsletters build habits (they should always be sent at the same time, whether weekly or daily) and I expect to see more of these built around the biggest newsroom names. However, I would warn you to think carefully about what your audience needs before you launch a newsletter, as it will face a lot of competition, and always ensure you are serving a niche which is not too crowded. Our most recent launch, ‘The AI Shift’, exemplifies this. It is written by two of our biggest names, John Burn-Murdoch and Sarah O’Connor, and is about AI and the workplace, beautifully on topic for the FT. It is also the first newsletter to feature Sarah and John on the banner, another demonstration of a world in which our journalists take centre stage.
The gateways
Podcasts, videos and games bring in audiences who might never come to a site otherwise. But we need to be clear on what these are for: are they still top of the funnel and for brand awareness, or can we use them for more valuable engagement?
I think these formats are relationships-builders in disguise. Everyone should be thinking about bonus episodes, behind-the-scenes content, subscriber exclusives, and clever cross-promotions. If you have a video that gets millions of views, think about how you can engage that viewer and where they should be going next.
Personalisation and user experience
I feel strongly that life should be made easier for readers. The very best brands have apps which are attractive to look at, intuitive and easy to use, with effective video players, timely push notifications (also a fine touchpoint for engagement) and newsletters that are easy to sign up for. Your site needs to be designed to address how people consume news today – not at some time in the past. You lose loyalty if your videos do not load, or your search engine fails.
I also think that while curation is valued by readers, personalisation can be extremely useful for someone time-poor or impatient. In 2026, expectations are for a personalised, frictionless journey and we should be providing that.
Membership, not just a paywall
If you want engagement (and trust me, you do), you need to think about what your customers get for the money they pay you. Access to a website is not enough.
That is why many media entities have membership models, engaging readers with events, competitions and other subscriber-only perks. The Times and the Wall Street Journal are only two examples of those who have realised that offering more can lead to increased engagement and reduced churn.
The homepage is still important!
With search and social media losing (some of) their power, the homepage is arguably having something of a renaissance as a shopfront for your brand.
But, as with the app, to engage readers properly, it must become a compelling shop window, promoting not only your best content, but other relevant products. Often newsletters, podcasts and community features barely appear on a publisher’s homepage.
AI might lead to more personalisation, but publishers still need a well-designed highly effective homepage, particularly one that is optimised for mobile.
Engaging new audiences
Engagement is vital, but so is reach. We still need social, SEO, marketing and brand awareness, so people can discover our content. But when we do win new readers, we need a plan to engage them properly.
Once again, the key is to try and understand these audiences and accept that their behaviour is different from what we might think of as the norm. Young people have not turned away from news, but they are finding it elsewhere (especially on social media) and want to read it in the formats they like when it is convenient for them to do so. That might mean more short-form videos, more commute-friendly formats (a podcast on the way home from work?), more explainers (we recently hired an explainer editor at the FT) and content which seems relevant and authentic.
Smarter, braver use of data
You simply cannot win the engagement game without knowing why people come to your site and how they behave when there.
How can you engage your readers without knowing where habits start, what stories (and writers) convert people to become subscribers or what stories they avoid? Whether you are implementing user needs or looking at other datapoints, you must be editorially intelligent, and that could mean looking at new value metrics, or concentrating on things you did not really take much notice of before, such as how much of an article someone reads, or how many times it is shared.
There are, of course, many other ways to engage readers, with some the responsibility of non-editorial departments covering issues such as pricing and marketing communications. But when it comes to the future of editorial, a strong identity and an emphasis on value, innovation, authority and trust are all hugely important.
The bottom line is that everyone needs to realise how important engagement is, to work on all its aspects and be fearless – ambitious, creative and aggressively reader-centric. Engagement is not just a metric (however you measure it), it’s a vital strategy and publishers need it to survive.
This article was first published in InPublishing magazine. If you would like to be added to the free mailing list to receive the magazine, please register here.
