Rising global media stars on things that excite them in media today
Below, Business Insider’s Breton Fischetti and Media24’s Mieke Vlok (winners in 2016), and Hearst’s Laura Wilson and Glass Buffalo’s Matthew Stepanic share three media developments each that they love.
FIPP and UPM’s Rising Stars in Global Media Awards celebrate exceptional young talent within the international media industry, in any discipline. Read more about who can enter the 2017 Awards, and how to enter, here (entries are free!). The top three 2017 winners will be invited to speak at the 41st FIPP World Congress, taking place from 9-11 October in London, the UK.
Breton Fischetti is senior director, commerce at Business Insider, based in the US.
• Subscriptions: I think they’re poised to make a comeback. The success of BII (Business Insider Intelligence), our paid research arm, is a solid indicator of this potential new trend.
• Live video: Digital media companies now have a shot at the next iteration of television and the huge scale and revenue opportunities that come with it.
• Instagram: For media companies, it has the potential to become much more than just short videos and pretty pictures.
Mieke Vlok is a journalist at Media24 Weekly Magazines in South Africa, where she writes for Afrikaans language Huisgenoot, the country’s biggest selling magazine
• Diversity: While the media still has a long way to go, I feel like it is becoming more inclusive by the day. Newsrooms are filled with people from all walks of life and backgrounds, which I think is great. The more varying perspectives you have, the more diversified your solutions will be.
• Real-time storytelling: I am very excited that journalists are using features like Facebook Live and Instagram Stories to document the news they are covering in real time. It gives a whole different level of experience to viewers when they can see events unfold for themselves.
• VR: It hasn’t properly hit South Africa yet, but virtual reality (VR) is extremely exciting. Through VR someone who would never have had the opportunity to experience a place, event or people can have a really authentic taste of what it is like.
Laura Wilson is account manager, jewellery, bridal and travel at Hearst’s Town & Country Magazine in the US.
• I’m loving the integration of technology on every level – from Snapchat to Amazon Alexa – we are evermore connected and constantly sharing and inquiring. This allows us to broaden our horisons when thinking about how to reach certain audiences as well as gives us the tools to highly curate any audience we aim to reach through appropriate data.
• I also will always love developing well-crafted, highly curated experiences – every time. People still want the in-person experience just as much as they love a new and exciting virtual reality experience. And in terms of sales, we find that they work beautifully and the return on investment is there for our clients.
• Custom content is the other trend I am really excited about these days. Our partners look to us to be the experts to creatively and smartly position their brands in the marketplace. Creating custom content for our partners allows us to not only take the brand messaging and alignment to the next level, but also to enhance our readers’ experience! Whether it is a guide to the world’s most exquisite pearls or a guide on how to explore the top cities in America…aligning with custom editorial content is always going to put your brand at our consumer’s top of mind.
Matthew Stepanic is founding editor and publisher of Glass Buffalo as well as editor at Tanner Young Publishing Group.
• I’m excited by the pop-up magazine events created by California Sunday Magazine. I believe they re-imagine magazines in new and extraordinary ways and make memorable experiences for their audiences.
• I’m eagerly following the trend of local journalism start-ups in Edmonton, such as the Edmonton Quotient and Taproot Edmonton, who are trying and testing new models for producing and funding local journalism.
• I’m also energised by the quality of print publications that are still being produced today, and the new magazines that have been adding to the publishing landscape (there was a record number of magazines that applied for the Best New Magazine award at the Alberta Magazine Awards this year).
About FIPP and UPM’s Rising Stars in Global Media Awards
Launched in 2015, FIPP and UPM’s Rising Stars in Global Media Awards celebrate exceptional young talent within the international media industry, in any discipline.
Read more about who can enter the 2017 Awards, and how to enter (it’s free), here. The top 3 winners will be invited to speak at the 41st FIPP World Congress, taking place from 9-11 October in London, the UK.
• See the 2016 winners and finalists here
• See the 2015 winners and finalists here
More like this
A look at AJ+ – Al Jazeera’s unique approach to engaging with millennials
Millennials and mobile prodigies: lessons on ad engagement, with Verve’s Ian James
Rising Stars Awards 2017: former winners on why you should enter
Hearst Magazines Digital Media to launch Glo, a new media brand targeted at millennials
