Nikolay Malyarov

In November 2018, we co-hosted an Insider event with FIPP in Argentina and Chile about the role and value of digital editions. Given the Latin American venue, I decided to use a local coming-of-age tradition - a quinceañero -  the 15th birthday milestone when a girl transitions from a child into a young woman in the community.

They say that being a CEO is one of the loneliest jobs in the world. It’s particularly difficult when their organisation is facing, or in the midst of, disruption – a word that’s overused, yes, but also one that fits the bill because it epitomises the intensity of confusion, panic, and distraction that comes with massive technical and social changes.

Lately I’ve read a number of articles about newsrooms working with companies to grow engagement with readers by including audiences in the creation process. One article in particular caught my attention because it took a devil’s advocate stance on the issue stating, rather forcefully, that there was no proof that engagement leads to any tangible value and that people who believe it does are basing their opinion on gut instincts, not fact.

If you’re sitting on the fence over whether you should offer a digital edition for your publication, check out an important lesson The Toronto Star learned when they decided to offer their ePaper Edition as a standalone product earlier this year, after just bundling it for years with their print edition. 

The 2016/17 rush to [subscription] reader revenue as the sole income source continues to baffle me given paywalls’ less than stellar results in the past decade. But be that as it may, 2018/19 looks to be heading towards more of the same.

When I look at the state of mainstream media, I can’t help but ask the question. Why are so many news publishers pivoting back to paywalls when they didn’t work for most of them before? 

Digital editions have been around for a long time, going all the way back to the late 90's. But in 2010 when the iPad hit the digital runway, publishers jumped on the tablet bandwagon faster than they could shout, “Hallelujah!”. The struggling publishing industry had found itself a saviour.  

If I were to ask you to describe the Internet of Things (IoT), I expect many of you would start to talk about how new technology is revolutionising the internet, providing “anything connectivity” through advanced networks, sensors, electronics, and software. And you wouldn’t be wrong.