Media Unscripted: latest episode with Jason Kint of Digital Content Next now available on general release

The latest episode of FIPP’s Media Unscripted podcast is now available on general release. In the fifth episode of the season, we hear from Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next.

DCN can be considered FIPP’s American cousin, with members including The Financial Times, The New York Times, The New York Post, Disney, Vox Media, Business Insider, The Atlantic and NPR. DCN has recently enjoyed its strongest year in history, retaining 98 per cent of its members throughout the pandemic and clocking its best financial year yet.

Delivering for their members is very important to DCN. “What’s really unique about premium publishers and our members is that they have a direct and trusting relationship with audiences and advertisers,” he says. On that basis, “We’re seeing a lot of positive trends across our member organisations. There has been a need we’ve been able to deliver on throughout the pandemic.”

Speaking about the duopoly of Google and Facebook over digital advertising, Kint is hopeful that recent regulatory changes (which FIPP tracks weekly via Big Tech Tracker) will bring about much-needed changes.

“What we liked about [the Australian law] is that it compels the negotiation […] It recognises that there’s this imbalance in bargaining power, and tries to solve for that, forcing the two sides to negotiate,” says Kint. “Then there’s this ‘stick’ on the bank end which if they don’t, brings in an arbitration process which could be bad for both parties. I think that’s making a big difference to big news companies and smaller and medium ones too.”

“When I first showed up in DC, there was almost no criticism at all – tech platforms had such a halo over them,” he added. “There wasn’t a real understanding of the positives and negatives, the trade-offs. […] But if you’re in Washington now, you’re going to think twice about sitting next to Facebook or showing up at an event that Facebook has funded … they’re not the party you want to be at. That’s a big change from six years ago.”

They talk about how DCN serves its members, the role of personal branding for those in executive roles, social media, and much more. Listen now.