Well, 2021 is ending much the same way that 2020 did, amidst high anxiety. Just as we were beginning to hope we were through the worst of the pandemic, along came Omicron.
So, what to make of 2021? I remain upbeat about publishing. If you’re still trading, then the chances are you’ve got a great product, a motivated team and have made the changes necessary to give your business the best chance of thriving in what remains of the Covid period and in the sunlit uplands beyond. You’ll probably come out of the pandemic stronger than you went it.
Other positives? There have been a few.
Against the received wisdom of the recent past, more people than ever are paying for digital content. Just last week, the Guardian announced that it had reached the one million digital subscriptions milestone. The Telegraph, FT and Times have also announced record digital subs numbers this year.
Many publishers are now taking concrete measures to deliver on past fine words about diversity and inclusion. This year has seen a host of appointments across the industry of senior executives charged with improving the diversity of their workforces. In September, Reach announced that it had joined the 30% Club, by explicitly committing to have at least 30% women on its board and senior management team by 2023. In June, Mark Allen Group announced the creation of MA Pride, a network for its LGBT+ employees. These are far from being isolated instances.
In May, the PPA published its first industry-wide diversity and inclusion survey. To paraphrase someone, what you can’t measure, you can’t change. Thanks to that survey, benchmarks have now been set and we can now measure progress in a meaningful way.
Finally, I sense that publishers are fully buying into the concept of community – of creating membership style offerings to lock in and reward their most loyal readers. Just check out what titles like The Times and Spectator give their subscribers to see the amazing breadth and depth of what’s now on offer. Long gone are the days when regular home delivery of a newspaper or magazine would suffice. Having ready access to super-fans is an exhilarating and energising place to be. There are lots of self-publishing platforms out there trying to lure our best writers away but no one can nurture a sense of community and belonging like a professional publisher. Self-publishing is one thing, being a central part of a highly respected and vibrant community is another.
So, what does 2022 have in store: increased reader revenues, closer links with readers, more diverse workforces, and … more profitable publishing businesses.
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