What a year to work in our industry. I didn’t think the news agenda could become more gobsmacking than the two years of global pandemic… Then again, I wouldn’t have predicted that the Daily Star would make lettuce a global phenomenon. But here we are.
As an optimistic salesperson, I’m not a fan of the word ‘threat’, but going into 2023, the greatest challenge facing newsbrands – indeed society – is the impending economic recession and cost of living crisis. However, whilst I’m certainly not suggesting our dismal economic outlook is an opportunity, without doubt, the role of newsbrands becomes ever more important during turbulent times. Recent research shows that more than a third of Brits believe that quality journalism matters more than ever and that two thirds of Brits think that journalists are doing a valuable role in covering the COL crisis.
Our industry has seen significant innovation in the past few years and this will continue in 2023. The battle for digital pounds will continue and likely become even more competitive. We will have to adapt to the ever-changing landscape, prepping again for the much delayed demise of the cookie, as well as pivoting to shifts such as Meta’s plan to de-prioritise news in their bid to compete with TikTok. Newsbrands will continue to develop newer revenue streams such as audio and ecommerce.
Reach is entering year four of our Customer Value Strategy, which has seen us successfully building and interpreting a wealth of data to create better products for our audiences and advertisers. We will see the entire market continue to invest in social and video content, reaching new audiences via different platforms and approaches. In our own efforts here, Reach has recently soft-launched a social-first and video-led brand called Curiously, aimed at engaging 25-34 year-olds across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
We’ve also recently announced that we’re expanding some of our brands – the Mirror, Express and Irish Star - to launch in the US for an American audience. While we’re no stranger to launching new brands, with the rapid expansion of our local Live sites in recent years, it represents an exciting opportunity and milestone for Reach brands to engage a whole new (and massive) audience.
Something that has been truly transformative for our industry over the past two years and will be key in 2023, is market collaboration. We’ve seen the growth and success of Ozone and we have continued to work together on our ground-breaking partnership with the government marketing team, delivering unique and award-winning content campaigns.
The threats are somewhat outside of our control. If only we could influence the actions of Vladimir Putin or Mark Zuckerberg! But there are things we can control – especially the things we are very good at. Trust, creativity, innovation and collaboration. And these are most certainly our opportunities in 2023.
This article was first published in the Publishing Partners Guide (PPG) 2023, which is published and distributed by InPublishing. You can register to receive InPublishing magazine here.
